Singing For the End of the World
by LeviAckermanisbae
Summary: Keith, guitarist, singer, songwriter superb has no friends at his school & is bullied for being schizophrenic. He only gets away from his troubles at home & school during lunch, when he plays guitar alone. When people start to really see him & he gets an opportunity to make friends & join a band, will he take a chance? Is the threat of getting hurt worth the reward of being loved?
1. Kids

A/N: Notes:

This is the YouTube playlist with all the songs that will be used in the fic.

Idk how this happened. I was just listening to music and this happened.

I finally figured out how to do the link thing-y so I'm using it now!  
I feel like I didn't do a very good job at introducing the characters, setting, or plot. Which is basically the entire story. :$

Chapter 1: Keith's foot tapped along to the tempo of the orchestra playing inside the concert hall, leaning against the wall next to his guitar case. Shiro told him that he'd have to wait about fifteen minutes for the orchestra to finish up their mock concert before he could have the concert hall to himself. It was going on twenty minutes now. Finally, he heard the ending notes of the song and Zarkon's booming voice declaring that practice was finished. He grabbed his guitar and slung his backpack over his shoulder, hurriedly pushing through the throng of students attempting to escape from the concert hall at the same time. Keith sped toward the stage, receiving the stink eye from Zarkon as he herded the last of the students out of the concert hall.

Another student approached him. "Hey, Schitz!" The boy, Rolo, called out to him. He dragged his violin along behind him and Keith groaned as if in pain. "Hey, fruitcake. I need twenty bucks," Rolo held out a hand, which Keith stared at.

"Why?"

"None of your damn business, ya' psychopath. Just give me the money before I have to sock your sorry ass."

Keith sighed, reaching into his backpack and pulling out a twenty.

"Thanks, lamebrain." Rolo saluted, hurriedly leaving Keith to his own devices.

Keith stepped onto the stage and pulled his amp out of this backpack and plugged it into his guitar, slinging the guitar strap over his shoulder. He stepped up toward the microphone that the orchestra had been using to help magnify their sound, adjusting it to sit at his height. He quickly tuned the guitar, double checking and triple checking to make sure the sound was perfect. He could still hear the sound of the students bumbling around outside, trying to get back to the orchestra room. He breathed out slowly before starting the soft, opening chords to his song, _Kick Me_. He suddenly started playing in a completely different style, pausing between beats as he sung.

 _Let's hang the jury_

 _You sick judgmental fools_

 _I'll bury you six feet deep_

 _I'm so tired of your rules_

He stared down at his fingers working the strings of the guitar, he didn't notice that a few students had started tricking back into the concert hall, whether by the obnoxiously loud sound of his music or that they had left their instruments is up for discussion.

 _Fuck you and your opinion_

 _How could you be so blind?_

 _What goes around_

 _Comes back around in time_

The trickle of students had now turned into a steady stream as students on their lunch breaks started filtering in as well to listen to him play. It was almost like magic how he hypnotized them with his voice and his guitar. He then started stomping and dancing around the stage obliviously as he played into the chorus.

 _You don't know shit_

 _You don't know shit_

 _About me_

 _You don't know shit, shit, shit_

 _Don't know a god damn thing about me_

He smiled, rocking along the the music. He aggressively strummed the next section of the song as a group of band members came in, speaking in hushed tones.

"Holy shit, that guy's good."

"No kidding. Is that an original piece? No offense Lance, but he might just be better than you."

Lance frowned at his taller friend, pulling a shorter person closer to him. "You're my best friend now, Pidge. Hunk is now dead to me." Pidge shoved him. "He's not right, per se. However, this guy's music is more appealing to our generation. Than your crappy love songs." Lance gasped dramatically. "My songs aren't crappy. And the ladies love it. This guy's music is so edgy." The group of friends peered back at the stage.

 _Keep looking down on me_

 _I am more than you'll ever be_

 _Cut me deep but I won't bleed_

 _Gonna kick, kick_

 _Kick me when I'm down_

 _By all means_

 _Put me through hell_

 _And I'll make you see_

 _I'll be your worst enemy_

 _Try to kick, kick, kick me when I'm down_

 _Kick me when I'm down_

"Dude, we should totally ask him to join our band," Hunk said, starting toward the stage. "Wait, shouldn't we see how we sound together first?" Lance smiled mischievously. "Let's get our stuff first." Pidge narrowed their eyes at him, but took him at his word as Hunk started walking out the door with the others in tow.

Keith suddenly noticed the crowd that had formed and became a little nervous, strumming with less abandon now and awkwardly sidling in front of the microphone. He sung softer now than he had during the chorus, becoming slightly more confident with each line.

 _Of all the sinners_

 _You're first in line_

 _So go to hell and tell the devil_

 _I'm not that far behind_

 _Fuck you and your decision_

 _'Cause it's not mine_

 _What goes around goes back around in time_

 _You don't know shit_

 _You don't know shit_

 _About me_

 _You don't know shit, shit, shit_

 _Don't know a god damn thing about me_

Keith saw the three band members come in now, Lance with his guitar, Pidge with a folded up keyboard, and Hunk with his drumsticks (the drums were already set up behind the curtain as they usually were). They three casually walked up to the front of the steadily growing crowd as Keith continued to sing.

 _Keep looking down on me_

 _I am more than you'll ever be_

 _Cut me deep but I won't bleed_

 _Gonna kick, kick_

 _Kick me when I'm down_

 _By all means_

 _Put me through hell_

 _And I'll make you see_

 _I'll be your worst enemy_

The crowd started to cheer along softly.

 _Try to kick, kick, kick me when I'm down_

 _Try to kick, kick, kick me when I'm down_

 _Kick, kick, kick me when I'm down_

 _Kick me when I'm down_

 _Kick me when I'm down_

 _Down_

 _Down_

 _Kick me when I'm down_

 _Down_

 _Down_

 _Kick me when I'm down_

The song ended somewhat abruptly and Keith wiped the sweat from his brows the three charged up onto the stage, startling him and almost causing him to fall flat on his ass.

"Mind if we join you?" Lance asked cockily. Keith answered back with a smirk, adjusting his guitar and answering, "Only if you can keep up." He started playing the opening chords to another song, leaning into the mic and saying snidely, "This is about you." Hunk started up on the drums and Lance set up his guitar. Pidge adjusted their keyboard to Alto Sax, playing along to Keith's guitar.

 _Beware, beware, be skeptical_

 _Of their smiles, their smiles of plated gold_

 _Deceit so natural_

 _But a wolf in sheep's clothing is more than a warning_

Keith sounded much more confident now as he sung this song.

 _Baa, baa, black sheep, have you any soul?_

 _No sir, by the way, what the hell are morals_

 _Jack, be nimble, Jack, be quick_

 _Jill's a little whore and her alibis are dirty trick_

Lance started getting louder on guitar as Keith bobbed his head from side to side. He noticed the slight accent that punctuated each of Keith's sentences, making him seem more angry than he actually was.

 _So could you_

 _Tell me how you're sleeping easy_

 _How you're only thinking of yourself_

 _Show me how you justify_

 _Telling all your lies like second nature_

 _Listen, mark my words, one day_

 _You will pay, you will pay_

 _Karma's gonna come collect your debt_

Pidge played a short, lilting solo on her keyboard before Keith took over the instrumental again.

 _Aware, aware, you stalk your prey_

 _With criminal mentality_

 _You sink your teeth into the people you depend on_

 _Infecting everyone, you're quite the problem_

 _Fe fi fo fum, you better run and hide_

 _I smell the blood of a petty little coward_

 _Jack, be lethal, Jack, be slick_

 _Jill will leave you lonely dying in a filthy ditch_

Lance scowled, strumming a slightly more difficult tune as it pulled into the chorus, making it seem as natural as breathing.

 _So could you_

 _Tell me how you're sleeping easy_

 _How you're only thinking of yourself_

 _Show me how you justify_

 _Telling all your lies like second nature_

 _Listen, mark my words, one day_

 _You will pay, you will pay_

 _Karma's gonna come collect your debt_

Keith hung on the last note, singing in a higher pitch. Pidge immediately moved to accommodate, turning up the volume on their keyboard and playing repeated patterns on different instruments, stacking the sounds on top of each other throughout the small portion. It actually turned out good despite the hurried improvisation and the pace at which she had to press different keys.

 _Maybe you'll change_

 _Abandon all your wicked ways_

 _Make amends and start anew again_

 _Maybe you'll see_

 _All the wrongs you did to me_

 _And start all over, start all over again_

Keith then started laughing maniacally as he transitioned into the next monologue, surprising some of the others, who still continued despite the surprise.

 _Who am I kidding?_

 _Now, let's not get overzealous here_

 _You've always been a huge piece of shit_

 _If I could kill you I would_

 _But it's frowned upon in all fifty states_

 _Having said that, burn in hell_

Keith hung on the last note again, giving the others ample time to transition into the chorus of the song again.

 _So tell me how you're sleeping easy_

 _How you're only thinking of yourself_

 _Show me how you justify_

 _Telling all your lies like second nature_

 _Listen, mark my words, one day_

 _You will pay, you will pay_

 _Karma's gonna come collect your debt_

 _Karma's gonna come collect your debt_

 _Karma's gonna come collect your debt_

They all caught their breaths for a moment as the crowd (which now occupied the whole of the concert hall being filled at this point. All the seats were occupied, some people taking to standing at the sides of the aisles. Keith spotted Acxa and Shiro waving wildly from the back of the concert hall. Shiro was the theatre teacher, so he had fourth and lunch off. Acxa had decided to have her Senior break period during fourth like Keith, since most of her friends also has Senior break during fourth. Keith waved awkwardly back at his overbearing sister and annoying cousin.

"You have any other good songs up your sleeve there?" Pidge gestured to his strangely designed leather jacket and he nodded. He strummed a short scale on his guitar in practice. "You mind starting this one for me?" Pidge nodded, starting up a slow and unsure instrumental at her keyboard's normal settings. Keith seemed to accept it though as he started singing, swinging his guitar over his shoulder for the time being as he wouldn't be using it for this particular song.

 _I can't quite contain or explain my evil ways_

 _Or explain why I'm not sane_

 _All I can say is this is your warning_

 _I can't quite contain or explain my evil ways_

 _Or explain why I'm not sane_

 _All I can say is this is your warning, duality_

Lance sung along with him on duality, strumming the next part along with his singing, keeping constant background noise. Hunk quickly started up on the drums along with them.

 _I have a confession_

 _That you will not believe_

 _That you could not perceive_

 _This freak, gonna set it off_

 _I have a confession,_

 _Of a side that I hide_

 _It's a cloak or disguise_

 _Unleashed, gonna get it off_

 _No, I'll never get away_

 _'Cause if I try to stray_

 _It only holds me closer_

 _No, I'll never get away_

 _I love it anyway_

 _I'll never stop_

The background music stopped abruptly, starting up again just after Keith started on the chorus.

 _I can't quite contain_

 _Or explain my evil ways_

 _Or explain why I'm not sane_

 _All I can say is this is your warning_

 _I can't quite contain_

 _Or explain my evil ways_

 _Or explain why I'm not sane_

 _All I can say is this is your warning,_

 _Duality_

The instrumentals quieted down again as Keith barged straight into the next portion of the song.

 _I have an impression,_

 _In the back of my mind_

 _For the black in my tie_

 _Contains all your dirty thoughts_

 _Make me an obsession,_

 _When you lock me inside_

 _For the ride of your life_

 _Unleashed, gonna get it off_

Keith winked cockily at Lance, who stopped playing for a moment, a blushing mess. He started back up again quickly though, practically unnoticed.

 _No, can't count the list of things_

 _I know are wrong with me_

 _No need to justify them_

 _No, I'll never take the blame_

 _So I'll just stay the same_

 _I'll never stop_

The four fluidly played into the chorus again, ignoring the loud cheers coming from the new audience.

 _I can't quite contain_

 _Or explain my evil ways_

 _Or explain why I'm not sane_

 _All I can say is this is your warning_

 _I can't quite contain_

 _Or explain my evil ways_

 _Or explain why I'm not sane_

 _All I can say is this is your warning,_

 _Duality_

Keith took the mic off of it's stand, untangling the wire from it with a quick fluid motion before walking across the stage toward Pidge, turning up the volume on their keyboard and changing the settings to choir before playing a single note. Pidge, catching on quickly, started playing along to Keith's staccato accented notes through the glissando verse.

 _I am good,_

 _I am evil_

 _I am solace,_

 _I am chaos_

 _I am human,_

 _And that's all I've ever wanted to be_

Pidge adjusted back to her original settings as Keith stalked back to the center of the stage, pressing the microphone back onto it's stand.

 _No, can't count the list of things_

 _I know are wrong with me_

 _No need to justify them_

 _No, I'll never get away_

 _I love it any way_

 _I'll never stop_

 _I can't quite contain or explain my evil ways_

 _Or explain why I'm not sane_

 _All I can say is this is your warning_

 _I can't quite contain or explain my evil ways_

 _Or explain why I'm not sane_

 _All I can say is this is your warning, duality_

Pidge smirked, putting their hands on their hips. "See, I told you our experience in jazz band would be useful someday," they said haughtily. "How many other good songs do you have? I'm thinking this'll be good practice regardless of whether Lance can convince you to join the band." Keith's face screwed up into a confused expression, having not gotten the memo that they wanted him to play in their band.

"Um, I have one more songs that I meant to practice." Pidge nodded and Hunk tapped the ride symbol with his drumsticks, effectively getting the attention of the two. "How about we give Lance a chance to sing one of his songs. I know he doesn't look it, but he can write some pretty edgy songs too." He jutted a thumb toward Lance, who stuck out his tongue at Hunk for ratting him out. Keith loosely held out the microphone to Lance. "How about it? Show me what you got." Lance cursed under his breath, snatching the mic and stamping to center-stage. He immediately started strumming, giving nobody else any time to catch up. Keith got his bearing a few ticks after, immediately taking over the song with his guitar.

 _She said she wants to end it all when she's all alone in her room_

 _She cries_

 _The way she feels inside is too much for her_

 _When all you got is these four walls_

 _It's not that hard to feel so small_

 _Or even exist at all_

 _How come no one heard her when she said_

Lance paused, hanging on the last note before aggressively strumming into the chorus, setting up a very punk-rock sound in the chorus.

 _Maybe I'm better off dead_

 _If I was would it finally be enough_

 _To shut out all those voices in my head?_

 _Maybe I'm better off dead_

 _Better off dead!_

 _Did you hear a word_

 _Hear a word I said?_

 _This is not where I belong_

 _You're gonna miss me when I'm gone_

 _Gone, gone_

 _This is not where I belong_

 _You're gonna miss me when I'm gone_

Keith sung background vocals, effectively keeping the focus on Lance while harmonizing with his voice, getting used to Lance's higher pitch of voice.

 _She doesn't know she's beautiful_

 _Because no one's ever told her so_

 _And the demons that she has, are all she knows_

 _And maybe she can fall in love with someone in her life that she could trust_

 _And tell her she's enough (Have someone tell her she's enough?)_

 _How come no one heard her when she said_

Keith felt something in his chest pull at the sentiment, but he shook his head continuing to pluck the strings of his guitar.

 _Maybe I'm better off dead_

 _If I was would it finally be enough_

 _To shut out all those voices in my head?_

 _Maybe I'm better off dead_

 _Better off dead!_

 _Did you hear a word_

 _Hear a word I said?_

 _This is not where I belong_

 _You gonna miss me when I'm gone_

 _This is not where I belong_

 _You're gonna miss me when I'm gone_

Keith started playing an entirely new instrumental background just as Lance started screaming the next lyrics into the mic, clearly letting his emotion get the best of him even on stage.

 _When all you got is these four walls_

 _It's not hard to feel so small_

 _When all you got is these four walls_

 _It's not hard to feel so, feel so small_

 _All she wanted was to be enough_

 _All she wanted was to be enough_

 _So what does it take?_

 _Maybe it's not too late_

Lance's tone immediately shifted as he sung the next line, taking the audience completely by surprise.

 _How come no one heard me when I said_

He let the note hang for a single dramatic second before continuing into the chorus.

 _Maybe I'm better off dead_

 _If I was would it finally be enough_

 _To shut out all those voices in my head?_

 _Maybe I'm better off dead_

 _Better off dead!_

 _Did you hear a word_

 _Hear a word I said?_

 _This is not where I belong_

 _You gonna miss me when I'm gone_

 _Gone, gone_

 _This is not where I belong_

 _You're gonna miss me when I'm gone_

 _Gone, gone_

 _This is not where I belong_

 _You're gonna miss me when I'm gone_

Lance took a deep breath as he listened to the cheering of people in the audience. He then took the microphone and handed it back to Keith. "One more song?" Keith smiled back at him. "Sure." He took the mic in his gloved hand, walking back to the center of the stage. Keith immediately started strumming, purposefully letting his voice waver with each note, creating a slow vibrato.

 _Watch your step around these words_

 _'Cause they're gonna get you,_

 _They're gonna get you in the end,_

 _I swear it's not a disease_

 _It's just a game of pretend,_

 _A game of pretend,_

 _Why is it me they're after,_

 _Couldn't they pick another one,_

 _Some day I'll spit their laughter,_

 _And bite their tongue._

Lance laughed at the last line behind him and Keith glowered back, unamused, as he continued into the chorus. A tan girl around their age had gotten her violin out in the front row and started playing along to the group.

 _Horrible kids,_

 _Would you look what you did,_

 _It was your ignorance,_

 _That formed a beast with your wit._

 _Bah duh duh dum bum_

 _Horrible kids, horrible kids, horrible kids,_

 _Look what you did!_

 _What makes this target grow?_

 _Is it when his feelings show?_

 _Hold a gun to his head and you'll know,_

Keith pointed his finger at his head, pulling an imaginary trigger and jerking his head as if he'd just gotten shot in the head. It was a small gesture, but said all it needed to.

 _You've pushed him down as low as he can go,_

He sung the next notes as if he was actually pleading to an invisible assailant, making the song seem more meaningful and personal as he sung it.

 _Go! Get away from me,_

 _Leave me be,_

 _I beg you please,_

 _I'm on the floor on bended knee._

 _Maybe then I'll keep my sanity._

His voice suddenly went much higher in pitch as he sung.

 _And I can't stand this pain they cause me,_

 _This puzzle will solve itself,_

 _And maybe I just can't seem to put this together yet._

At this point he pulled back around to the style of singing he had been doing earlier as he sung the chorus.

 _Horrible kids,_

 _Would you look what you did,_

 _It was your ignorance,_

 _That formed a beast with your wit._

 _Horrible kids, horrible kids, horrible kids,_

 _Look what you did!_

 _Horrible kids, horrible kids, horrible kids,_

 _Look what you did!_

Pidge turned the volume up on her keyboard, playing the same volume as the violinist in the front of the audience.

 _Picture this he was just a kid,_

 _Not knowing where to begin,_

 _He wore all the wrong clothes_

 _Followed all the wrong trends,_

 _Persecuted for the things he did._

 _Picture this he was all alone,_

 _Without a friend to call his own_

 _So he sat on his bed,_

 _With the thought in his head,_

 _With wishes that they all were dead_

 _But then he saw the light,_

 _Gained the will to fight,_

 _Saw that victory was in sight,_

 _But soon they all will see._

Keith hung on the last note, giving it a slight vibrato before he continued into the chorus.

 _Horrible kids,_

 _Would you look what you did,_

 _It was your ignorance,_

 _That formed a beast with your wit._

 _Horrible kids,_

 _Would you look what you did,_

 _It was your ignorance,_

 _That formed a beast with your wit._

 _Horrible kids, horrible kids, horrible kids,_

 _Look what we did!_

 _Horrible kids, horrible kids, horrible kids,_

 _Look what we did!_

The bell suddenly rung, signaling that first lunch was over and students started filing out of the concert hall, the only people sticking around being the violinist, the four on stage and one shady guy hanging in the back, leaning against the wall with a smoke.

"Allura!" Lance leaped off the stage, hugging the violinist. "I haven't seen you in forever, babe." She softly kicked his leg in discomfort at being called 'babe' despite not being his girlfriend. Lance started waving his hands around wildly as he spoke. "I haven't heard your voice in forever. I missed it. I thought you'd moved to Britain." Allura waved her hands back without speaking. Keith suddenly realized they were speaking in sign language.

"What is she saying?"

Lance smiled at him. "She said that I've never heard her voice before, so there's no way I could have missed it," He laughed. He then turned to Pidge. "Allura's going to finish off her Senior year here, so you guys can go to prom together." Pidge rolled their eyes. "I could see that. I can read sign too, jackass." Allura giggled behind her fist as Lance gasped in mock offense.

Keith had already finished packing up and moved to leave, when Lance stopped him. "Hey. If you want, we practice here after school on Thursdays. Maybe you can swing by." Keith looked him up and down, searching for any sign of malintent. "Sure." He moved past him hurrying down to the exit, noticing that the shady figure had moved to walk beside him.

"Hey, fruitcake."

"Leave me be."

"Speaking of, don't think I didn't notice that you wrote an entire song about me. I'm touched, really." Rolo swooned, leaning against Keith, who shrugged him off.

"It's not about you."

"Oh? Then who's it about?"

"Someone I made up."

"Funny. This made up person sounds a lot like me."

"It's not."

"Well, don't get any ideas. You're still a weakling, Schitz. Don't forget that. I'll put you back in your place if you do and you won't like it."

"I understand."

"Good." Rolo patted him on the back before leaving him alone in the hall.

Keith sighed. It was going to be a long week.

End A/N Notes:

Kick Me - Sleeping With Sirens  
Wolf In Sheep's Clothing - Set It Off  
Duality - Set It Off  
Better Off Dead - Sleeping With Sirens  
Horrible Kids - Set It Off


	2. Twenty Days 'Til Midnight

_**Why am I going to these weirdo's rehearsal, again?**_ Keith's feet pounded up the front steps of the theatre building. _**Because they offered and you'd feel bad if you left them**_ _ **hanging,**_ he reminded himself. _**Yeah, but we're practically strangers. And what if this is just some kind of trick? What if Rolo set this whole thing up?**_ He shook his head viciously. **_God, I'm paranoid._** He continued walking toward the concert hall, his backpack slung over his shoulder and his guitar case in hand. When he got to the doors of the concert hall, he took a deep breath before opening them, to see Hunk, Lance, Pidge, and Allura already practicing onstage. Allura now had a tambourine in her hand, though she had a stack on instrument cases sitting on one of the seats in the front row. He could tell they were hers because each case had her name engraved on it.

 _Don't point the blame when you can't find nothing_

 _Look to yourself, and you might find something_

 _It's time that we sorted out_

 _All of the things, we complain about_

Keith noted the calmness of the song, contradicting the way they had played just a few days ago. He walked up to the stage, setting down his guitar case and backpack in front of the stage. Pidge jumped off the stage to greet him while the others continued to play the song.

 _So listen close to the sound of your soul_

 _Take back a life we lived once before_

"Yo. So if you've got any songs we can use, we'll go over them together after Lance is done practicing this song. We can edit, learn, and play each piece one at a time. We also do this during lunch and fourth, if you want to swing by then and help out. Actually, I'm getting ahead of myself. You haven't even said if you would actually join the band," They rambled, looking at him expectantly. "I guess. I mean it's not like I have anything else to do." He pulled his amp out of his backpack, setting it to the side as he pulled out a giant stack of papers.

 _If it ain't you, then who?_

 _If it ain't you, then who is gonna love you?_

"These are all of the decent songs that I've written. You can go through and see what's good." Keith fumbled with the sleeves of his sweater nervously.

 _Nobody's gonna love you if_

 _You can't display, a way to capture this_

 _Nobody's gonna hold your hand_

 _And guide you through_

 _No, it's up for you to understand_

"Cool. Let's play the first few songs here and see when slash if we're going to use them in the future." Pidge grabbed the corners of a few papers, straightening them up and hopping back onto the stage. She laid the papers over her keyboard and gestured for Keith to join them onstage.

 _Nobody's gonna feel your pain_

 _When all is done_

 _And it's time for you to walk away_

 _When you have today_

 _You should say all that you have to say_

 _Nobody's gonna feel your pain_

 _When all is done_

 _And it's time for you to walk away_

 _When you have today_

 _You should say all that you have to say_

Keith smiled softly, leaping onto the stage with his guitar in hand and stood by Pidge, looking over their shoulder.

 _So when you have today, say all that you have to say_

They finished the song and all of them immediately turned their focus to Keith.

"Dude, you made it!"

"I didn't think you'd actually come, Mullet."

Allura tapped Lance on the shoulder, signing excitedly at him.

"She said she's glad you made it. She brought a few of her instruments in case you had some songs you wanted her to play with them."

Keith nodded. "Cool."

"Let's start with this one!" Pidge yelled, handing a packet of papers stapled together to Lance.

"Crazy=Genius. Sounds cool. What's the tempo?"

"One hundred fifteen beats per minute, 4 beats per measure, in D key," Keith listed.

"Coolio. Let's do it. Allura, I want you on trumpet." He signed at her and she raced off to grab her trumpet case, which was on the top of the pile. Everyone got to their spots on the stage, with Lance taking center stage with the packet, having let everyone else take a quick once over of it. Keith and Lance started singing the first two lines together with Hunk and Allura playing their instruments and Pidge giggling softly into the mic.

 _You can set yourself on fire_

 _You can set yourself on fire_

Lance sung confidently with a higher vocal range than most guys his age. Keith marveled the small grace, waiting for the chorus, as he hadn't written guitar lyrics for the rest of the song.

 _She said at night in my dreams_

 _You dance on a tightrope of weird_

 _Oh but when I wake up you're so normal that you just disappear_

 _You're so straight like commuters with briefcases towing the line_

 _There's no residue of a torturer inside your of eyes_

They both sung together now, singing higher than either of them had been singing before, almost whispering into their microphones.

 _She said you're just like Mike_

 _Love but you wanna be Brian Wilson, Brian Wilson_

 _Said you're just like Mike_

 _Love but you'll never be Brian Wilson_

Lance laughed at the reference, letting Keith take over the chorus, playing his guitar instead and singing background vocals.

 _And I said (hey ay, ay)_

 _If crazy equals genius (hey ay, ay)_

 _If crazy equals genius_

 _Then I'm a fucking arsonist (hey)_

 _I'm a rocket scientist (hey hey)_

 _(Hey ay, ay)_

 _If crazy equals genius (hey)_

 _You can set yourself on fire (hey ay)_

 _But you're never gonna burn, burn, burn (hey ay)_

 _You can set yourself on fire (hey ay)_

 _But you're never gonna learn, learn, learn hey!_

Lance rattled off the lyrics as if he'd written them himself, not just taken a quick glance at a piece of paper for the first time and tried improvising at high speed.

 _She said darlin' you know_

 _How the wine plays tricks on my tongue_

 _But you don't seem to change when you stuff all of_

 _your feelings with drugs_

Keith cut in at this point, not liking the style with which Lance sung.

 _Other boys you may have dated serrated your heart with a slice_

 _But the cut of your love never hurts baby, it's a sweet butter knife_

 _She said you're just like Mike_

 _Love but you wanna be Brian Wilson, Brian Wilson_

 _Said you're just like Mike_

 _Love but you'll never be Dennis Wilson_

Lance stuck his tongue out at Keith, taking over the chorus this time, having gotten the gist of it.

 _And I said (hey ay, ay)_

 _If crazy equals genius (hey ay, ay)_

 _If crazy equals genius_

 _Then I'm a fucking arsonist (hey)_

 _I'm a rocket scientist (hey hey)_

 _(Hey ay, ay)_

 _If crazy equals genius (hey)_

 _You can set yourself on fire (hey ay)_

 _But you're never gonna burn, burn, burn (hey ay)_

 _You can set yourself on fire (hey ay)_

 _But you're never gonna learn, learn, learn hey!_

Hunk slowed down on the drums and Pidge added monkey noises in the background on their keyboard out of boredom, getting a small laugh out of it as Keith glared at them. Lance sung, letting Keith do background vocals.

 _You can set yourself on fire (hey)_

 _You can set yourself on fire (hey)_

 _You can set yourself on fire (hey)_

 _You can set yourself on fire_

Keith started playing his guitar alongside Lance, despite the fact that he'd originally only written one guitar part. He played the same pattern as Lance, but a couple notes lower.

 _And I said (hey ay, ay)_

 _If crazy equals genius (hey ay, ay)_

 _If crazy equals genius_

 _Then I'm a fucking arsonist (hey)_

 _I'm a rocket scientist (hey hey)_

 _(Hey ay, ay)_

 _If crazy equals genius (hey)_

 _You can set yourself on fire (hey ay)_

 _But you're never gonna burn, burn, burn (hey ay)_

 _You can set yourself on fire (hey ay)_

 _But you're never gonna learn, learn, learn hey_

Lance turned toward him. "I actually like that song. And what you did on guitar at the end was really good. I actually think just playing that instead of the original would be better," He suggested. "The monkey sounds were kind of funny, Pidge and would be fine to keep, but there are a few parts where I think you could use french horn music. Actually, if you'd like you could make an entire background playlist for this song." He walked toward Pidge with the papers, taking a marker out of his shirt pocket. "Mind if I write on this?" Lance mumbled with the marker in his mouth. Keith shrugged in response, stalking behind him to see what he was going to write. Lance made a few marks between paragraphs, writing the letters of the notes Keith had played before. "Nah, I think it's fine the way we played it, aside from the thing you mentioned about Keith."

She handed him another packet that they'd doodled on with colorful pens while they were playing the last song. "You can probably relate to this one," Pidge smirked. Lance squinted at the paper. "My Whole Family Thinks I'm Gay. That- that's funny." He practically threw it back in her face, getting his guitar and playing the opening chords to _Fuck You_ by Lily Allen.

"Keith, when did you even write a song like this. It's pretty funny." Hunk held the packet now, looking at him curiously. Keith shrugged. "I did it on a dare my Sophomore year. My sister, Acxa, thought it would be funny if I wrote a song about being gay and showed it to Shiro."

"Wait, wait, wait. Shiro, like, our theatre teacher?" Lance asked, astonished.

"Yeah, he's my cousin?" Keith raised an eyebrow. Lance took a deep breath and clasped his hands together, holding them to his forehead as if he was praying. "Oh my fucking God."

"What?"

"Lance is a Shiro fanboy." Pidge smirked.

"NO!" Lance aggressively pointed a finger at them, then turned on Keith. _"No,"_ he said as if he were in physical pain. He wheezed slightly before getting a hold of himself. "Are there any other songs we can check out or do we want to move on to my song?"

Pidge sent him a withering glare before handing him another packet. "Sarcasm, huh? I can get behind that." Lance simpered, letting Keith take center stage again and getting behind him.

Keith winced. "It's not really like that, but whatever. 180 bpm for this song. Lance, stop glaring at the sheet music and give it to Allura. She's going to start out on violin. Strumming at the beginning, please." Lance glared at Keith again before begrudgingly handing them to Allura. He was very disappointed to find the lyrics of the song to be just as, if not more angsty than the rest of the songs Keith had played with them. Allura let Hunk take a short look at it before tapping out the first four beats with her toe before they started. Lance strumming on his guitar with Hunk before Allura joined in halfway with Keith playing softly underneath the layers of music. Lance's guitar, then Hunks drums, Allura's Violin, and Keith providing the background noise as he sung.

 _You've got me shaking from the way you're talking_

 _My heart is breaking but there's no use crying_

 _What a cyanide surprise you have left for my eyes_

 _If I had common sense I'd cut myself or curl up and die_

Pidge joined in with her short piano solo, with the others dropping off, aside from hunk, who shook a maraca that could be clipped back onto hi-hat stand. It was a gadget he had created using a couple slabs of metal, a rubber band, and a screw three years ago after what he would call a short burst of inspiration.

 _Sticks and stones could break my bones_

 _But anything you say will only fuel my lungs_

Everyone joined in with an aggressively played chorus, which would filter through the rest of the song. It started abruptly and Keith would start to take over the guitar part, playing in harsh bursts of energy, moving his body along with the music, his sharp, aggressive movements giving an overall darkened effect on the song.

 _Don't mind us we're just spilling our guts_

 _If this is love I don't wanna be loved_

 _You pollute the room with a filthy tongue_

 _Watch me choke it down so I can throw it up_

 _Don't mind us we're just spilling our guts_

 _If this is love I don't wanna be hanging by the neck_

 _Before an audience of death_

Keith abruptly changed the chords he was strumming as Lance started singing the next verse over the last note that he left hanging over half of the first line.

 _You could be the corpse and I could be the killer_

 _If I could be the devil, you could be the sinner_

 _You could be the drugs and I could be the dealer_

 _Everything you say is like music to my ears_

The guitar part changed drastically again as Keith started screaming into the mic for half of the first line, Lance yelling the second half of the line into the mic as they bounced their parts back and forth. Hunk's hands sped across the drums as he played his part. Both guitars, which had been practically silenced at the beginning, now overpowered every other instrument that was played.

 _You could be the corpse and I could be the killer_

 _If I could be the devil, you could be the sinner_

 _You could be the drugs and I could be the dealer_

 _Everything you say is like music to my ears_

They adjusted back into the chorus, seeming to calm down slightly. Lance played with just as much volume as Keith now.

 _Don't mind us we're just spilling our guts_

 _If this is love I don't wanna be loved_

 _You pollute the room with a filthy tongue_

 _Watch me choke it down so I can throw it up_

 _Don't mind us we're just spilling our guts_

 _If this is love I don't wanna be hanging by the neck_

 _Before an audience of death_ _(Before an audience)_

They played at mezzo piano for a few beats before stopping the music altogether as Lance and Keith sung the first line together. They then started playing once again.

 _Failure find me_

 _To tie me up now_

 _'Cause I'm as bad, as bad as it gets_

 _Failure find me_

 _To hang me up now_

 _By my neck cause I'm a fate worse than death_

The song calmed down for the first two lines before brushing into a vivace chorus again. Lance sung background vocals, while Keith started singing with more of a falsetto. The group started to play a staccato accelerando as they started to wrap up the song.

 _What a cyanide surprise you have left for my eyes_

 _If I had common sense I'd cut myself or curl up and die_

 _Don't mind us we're just spilling our guts_

 _If this is love I don't wanna be loved_

 _You pollute the room with a filthy tongue_

 _Watch me choke it down so I can throw it up_

 _Don't mind us we're just spilling our guts_

 _If this is love I don't wanna be hanging by the neck_

 _Before an audience_

They all stopped playing aside from the steady beat of Hunk tapping his foot on the bass drum pedal and Pidge playing a lively bit at the end. Keith and Lance's voices began to mingle as the sung together.

 _Don't mind us we're just spilling our guts_

 _If this is love I don't wanna be loved_

 _You pollute the room with a filthy tongue_

 _Watch me choke it down so I can_

 _Don't mind us we're just spilling our guts_

 _If this is love I don't wanna be hanging by the neck_

 _Before an audience of death_

Lance pumped a hand in the air, his previous mood lifted again, excited for his own new song to be played. He leaped off the stage, reaching for a guitar case that had been stacked with Allura's instruments. Keith had originally assumed that the guitar belonged to Allura, but now that he looked closer, he noticed that the large pile of instruments included multiple types of guitars, orchestra instruments, marching band instruments, percussion instruments, and even what looked like something you'd find a dj using at a club. He wondered why they had so many instruments, when they most likely wouldn't play all of them. As if reading his mind, Lance lifted his acoustic guitar out of the case and explained. "We like to take all out stuff home on Thursdays because we don't practice on Fridays and we usually practice at my place on the weekends. It's just easier to have everything in one place."

Lance climbed onto the stage and strode confidently to the center of the stage. "This one's called If I'm James Dean, Then You're Audrey Hepburn." Pidge snickered, earning a glare from Lance. He strummed the acoustic experimentally before starting the song, only himself and Hunk with his maracas playing the song. Keith noted how his voice seemed naturally high when he sung, the words flowing naturally, almost like a waterfall. He sung softly and sincerely, which put Keith off kilter. He was already creating a new melody for Lance's song in his head. The way he sung the song was like a husband casually telling his wife how much she means to him in his vows at their wedding. It was strange for Keith. It seemed like it should have been a private moment, but Lance was proudly flaunting this unfaltering adoration for his Audrey Hepburn.

 _Stay for tonight_

 _If you want to, I can show you_

 _What my dreams are made of_

 _As I'm dreaming of your face_

 _I've been away for a long time_

 _Such a long time_

 _And I miss you there_

 _I can't imagine being anywhere else_

 _I can't imagine being anywhere else but here_

 _How the hell did you ever pick me_

 _Honestly, 'cause I could sing you a song_

 _But I don't think words can express your beauty_

 _It's singing to me_

 _How the hell did we end up like this?_

 _You bring out the beast in me_

 _I fell in love from the moment we kissed_

 _Since then we've been history_

 _They say that love is forever_

 _Your forever is all that I need_

 _Please stay as long as you need_

 _Can't promise that things won't be broken_

 _But I swear that I will never leave_

 _Please stay forever with me_

 _It goes to show, I hope that you know that you are_

 _What my dreams are made of_

 _And I can't fall asleep_

 _I lay in my bed awake at night_

 _And I'll fall in love_

 _You'll fall in love, it could mean everything_

 _Everything to me ooh ooh_

 _This could mean everything to me_

 _They say that love is forever_

 _Your forever is all that I need_

 _Please stay as long as you need_

 _Can't promise that things won't be broken_

 _But I swear that I will never leave_

 _Please stay forever_

 _The way that we are_

 _Is the reason I stay_

 _As long as you're here with me_

 _I know I'll be okay_

 _They say that love is forever_

 _Your forever is all that I need_

 _Please stay, please stay as long as you need_

 _Can't promise that things won't be broken_

 _But I swear that I will never leave_

 _Please stay forever with me_

 _It goes to show_

 _I hope that you know that you are_

 _What my dreams are made of_

 _It goes to show_

 _I hope that you know that you are_

 _Please stay, please stay as long as you need_

 _It goes to show_

 _I hope that you know that you are_

 _What my dreams are made of_

 _It goes to show_

 _I hope that you know that you are_

 _Please stay forever with me_

It was a very cute song, so when Keith stepped up to the mic Lance occupied and said, "May I?" Lance practically withered into a pile of ashes on the spot. "What? Not good enough for you, hot shot?" Lance answered venomously. "No. It was great. I just had an idea for an alternate version." Lance warily let him have the mic and grabbed his other guitar, which had been left haphazardly on the edge of the stage. Keith reached around Lance, strumming the beginnings of Lance's part, which Lance continued to strum slowly, but surely as he got the hand of this new instrumental. Keith then walked across the stage toward Hunk, tapping the rhythm he wanted him to start out with in time with Lance until Hunk got the hang of it. He rifled through the pile of instruments and carefully pulled out a guitar case with Allura's name plastered on it in silver cursive. He gave it to her to take out and tune before he played a few chords, letting Allura take over quickly until they were all in sync. He then began to strum his own part on the guitar, immediately singing the lyrics Lance had been singing before, with less of a falsetto and a rougher voice.

 _Stay for tonight_

 _If you want to, I can show you_

 _What my dreams are made of_

 _As I'm dreaming of your face_

 _I've been away for a long time_

 _Such a long time_

 _And I miss you there_

 _I can't imagine being anywhere else_

 _I can't imagine being anywhere else but here_

The song slowed for a moment before picking back up as the others figured out where the hell they were going with this.

 _How the hell did you ever pick me_

 _Honestly, 'cause I could sing you a song_

 _But I don't think words can express your beauty_

 _It's singing to me_

 _How the hell did we end up like this?_

 _You bring out the beast in me_

 _I fell in love from the moment we kissed_

 _Since then we've been history_

The music swelled and burst into the chorus, where Allura added her own little flair on her guitar. It was easy to see how talented she was with the instrument, with any instrument for that matter.

 _They say that love is forever_

 _Your forever is all that I need_

 _Please stay as long as you need_

 _Can't promise that things won't be broken_

 _But I swear that I will never leave_

 _Please stay forever with me_

Lance yelled the first, third, fourth, sixth, and seventh line, Keith singing in between the lines. Allura filled up some of the blank spaces with her higher pitched guitar, improvising after having lost what her part had originally been, but still making the song sound good.

 _It goes to show, I hope that you know that you are_

 _What my dreams are made of_

 _I can't fall asleep, can't fall asleep_

 _I lay in my bed awake at night_

 _As I dream of you_

 _And I'll fall in love_

 _You'll fall in love, it could mean everything_

 _Everything to me_

 _I can't imagine being anywhere else_

The music abruptly changed and Hunk's pounding sounds echoed through the concert hall.

 _They say that love is forever_

 _Your forever is all that I need_

 _Please stay as long as you need_

 _Can't promise that things won't be broken_

 _But I swear that I will never leave_

 _Please stay forever with me_

Lance was left playing by himself, until everyone else started building up upon the music.

 _The way that we are_

 _Is the reason I stay_

 _As long as you're here with me_

 _I know I'll be okay_

 _The way that we are_

 _Is the reason I stay_

 _As long as you're here with me_

 _I know I'll be okay_

They progressed into the chorus with practiced ease this time around. Lance sung background vocals with him.

 _They say that love is forever_

 _Your forever is all that I need_

 _Please stay, please stay as long as you need_

 _Can't promise that things won't be broken_

 _But I swear that I will never leave_

 _Please stay as long as you need_

 _They say that love is forever_

 _Your forever is all that I need_

 _Please stay, please stay as long as you need_

 _Can't promise that things won't be broken_

 _But I swear that I will never leave_

 _Please stay forever with me_

 _They say that love is forever_

 _Your forever is all that I need_

 _Please stay, please stay as long as you need_

 _Can't promise that things won't be broken_

 _But I swear that I will never leave_

 _Please stay as long as you need_

 _They say that love is forever_

 _Your forever is all that I need_

 _Please stay, please stay as long as you need_

 _Can't promise that things won't be broken_

 _But I swear that I will never leave_

 _Please stay forever with me_

Lance high-fived Allura and Hunk before everyone turned their attention to the doors of the concert hall. Professor Shirogane stood with his foot holding the door open, onlooking the group with a fond smile. "Hey, guys. You mind if I take Keith home?" Pidge made an ooh noise.

"Aww. I wish my dad would pick me up after school," Lance taunted.

"He's not my dad," Keith ground through grit teeth, getting his stuff together and walking to the exit.

"See you next week, Keith!" Hunk chirped enthusiastically accompanied by a squeaking noise, almost like that of a mouse, from Allura who waved frantically. She ran toward him, almost tackling him in her attempt to give him his papers back. She shyly handed them to him. "Shee jou neksht week," She slurred, somehow still sounding elegant. He gave her a small smile and a thank you for her efforts as she skipped back to the stage. Shiro chuckled, holding the door open for Keith. "Ladies first."

Keith glowered at him, but still moved ahead, letting Shiro drag behind. As per usual, Shiro bugged him with question after question about his mental health. "Did you take your pills this morning? Are you feeling okay? You sure you don't need to take a break from school for a bit? You aren't being bullied again, are you? Should I ask the councilor to see you again?" Keith sighed exasperatedly. "I'm fine, Shiro. I'm seeing my therapist tomorrow anyways." Keith waved his hand dismissively. "Let's just go home." Shiro nodded hesitantly before going off on a tangent about a chemistry teacher he'd met in the front office (or what most people called the fish bowl because of the glass trophy cases that served as the see-through walls of it) whom he now had a crush on. Keith listened attentively hanging onto every word, despite how boring the story might have seemed to literally anyone else. Droning on and on about how adorable and perfect the guy was. How kind and nerdy he was, but still left Shiro wanting to hear more about whatever the fuck a homogeneous mixture was. And what the hell the guy meant when he kept calling him tellanylidenecopper. _**I wonder if I could ever find someone like that.**_

End A/N Notes:

Tellanylidenecopper is the longer version of copper telluride (aka CuTe). It's basically the nerdier version of the CuTe chemistry joke.  
Anyways, here are the songs I used:  
Roger Rabbit - Sleeping With Sirens  
Crazy=Genius - Panic! At the Disco  
My Whole Family - Bo Burnham  
Sarcasm - Get Scared  
If I'm James Dean, Then You're Audrey Hepburn (Acoustic and Original) - Sleeping With Sirens


	3. Pineapples In My Head

A/N Notes:

If you can't tell from the beginning of this chapter, I hate people who block up the hallways at school. Don't be one of those people.

***All of this is based off of my school. It's really big. It's about 0.15 mile across. There's A building (English, Languages, History, Computers, Special Education/Peer Assistance), B (Math, Science, News, Yearbook, DECA), [B and B2 building are connected by a bridge of sorts between the upper levels] B2 (Arts, Miscellaneous), C (library, cafeteria, sub school), D (Fine Arts/Gay Building, theatre, choir, band, orchestra), E (Gym), F (Activity Center/Indoor football field), and the Aquatic Center (aka the indoor pool). There are 4 parking lots, tennis and sand volleyball courts, a soccer field, a football field (the stadium the school uses is near the Junior high school), and a baseball field. It also has a pond, where classes can go fishing and environmental studies classes can test the water and look at the freshwater clams. Plus the there's a middle school that takes up a little bit of space and where a few kids go to during lunch to hang out on the playground.  
I've seen malls smaller than my school. It's pretty impressive. But this list is kind of to give a better idea of what the school looks like.  
Plus the setting is in Buckeye, Arizona.***

Keith slammed his locker shut, shifting the weight of the books in his arms (art history required a textbook twice the size of a normal textbook and thrice it's weight, a booklet that he could write notes from his textbook in, a booklet for what they learned in class and his AMSTUD textbook, (which was in his backpack instead of in his arms) so that he could study over the weekend.

"Hey, Keith!" He spun around at the sound of his voice, deeply hoping it wasn't someone who wanted to screw with him. He saw the telltale sign of someone waving to him from behind a throng of people, who had decided to make it their job to block the entire hallway off so that no one could get to their classes. A mop of brunette hair bounced above the crowd's heads and managed to push it's way through the group of people in the form of an excited Lance. "Hey, man. We're playing a gig in Palo Verde. You should come. The place we play at gets pretty packed and we could use an extra guitar player. Our last one ditched us a couple weeks ago."

"Sure. I'll just have to ask Takashi for a ride."

"Wait, you're on a first name basis with the teacher?"

"He's my cousin."

"Yeah, but it's still weird."

"Whatever." Keith pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Here. Put your number in and I'll text you." Lance eagerly took his phone, putting his number in before saving himself as a contact and rifling through whatever else was on Keith's phone.

"Hey, I said put your number in. Not to go through all my stuff." Keith reached for the phone, but Lance held it above his head, scanning through old pictures Keith had taken.

"Seriously? Do you just take pictures of random fence posts all day?" He scrolled through image after image of random things. A fence post with tree branches hanging over it, a bike chained up to a bike rack at the side of the school, a bench decorated with flowers and a stuffed bear (probably some sort of memorial of sorts), an empty window at the front of the school.

A boy snatched the phone from Lance. "How creepy. What's up with all these photos, ya' crazy?" Rolo asked, scrolling through.

"Hey, he's not crazy," Lance sniffed. Keith snorted, "Yeah, I am. I'm schizophrenic and psychotic." Lance stared at him for a moment. "I wouldn't have guessed. But still. Crazy suggests someone who's deranged in an aggressive sort of way, which I don't think Keith is." Rolo squinted at him. "Who the hell are you?"

"I should ask you the same thing." Lance crossed his arms over his chest, standing up straighter.

"Chill, Lance." Keith placed a hand on his chest, pushing him away from Rolo. "Rolo, my phone." He held out his hand for Rolo to give him the phone. Rolo seemed to contemplate this for a moment before tossing the phone up in the air a few times, letting Keith fidget and stew in uncertainty. "Sure. Just tell me what's up with the stalker pictures." Keith's brows furrowed. "There's no one in them?" Rolo rolled his eyes, still holding the phone out of Keith's reach.

"I use it to see what's real and what isn't. Happy? Now give me my phone." Rolo hummed in acknowledgement before throwing it across the hall behind him. Keith frowned before stalking off to grab his phone before someone stepped on it. He stood up, shoving his phone back into his pocket and noticed Lance had followed him like a sad puppy. "What do you want?" Lance's face scrunched up in discomfort. "You shouldn't let people walk all over you." Keith rolled his eyes. "You stole my phone before him."

"Not the point. I know I go overboard sometimes, but people usually call me out when it's too much. Or in Pidge's case, beat the shit out of me."

Keith snickered. "It's not that big a deal." He shouldered his backpack. "Anyways, what are you guys going to play?" Keith asked, changing the topic at record speed.

"Hunk wrote a song called _It Wasn't Me_ which is a pretty good song. Most of the other songs I wrote; _Familiar, The Haunting, Don't You Dare Forget the Sun, Roger Rabbit._ And Pidge wants us to play your version of _If I'm James Dean, Then You're Audrey Hepburn._ Is that okay?" Lance listed off. "Sure. Do you guys practice beforehand?" Keith started walking to his class in the B2 building, letting Lance trail behind despite the fact that the B2 building was far away from all the other classes and Lance probably wouldn't be able to get to class on time if he followed him to his class.

"Yeah. Sometimes we meet at my house, which is where we usually keep all our stuff since my family's got a pretty big house. We carpool, so if you want to go to that with us we meet up in the parking lot by the duck pond. Just text me. And then when we go to Palo Verde, we have about half an hour of practice before we go on." Keith nodded along. "Again, I'm going to have to ask Shiro, but yeah. Maybe I'll go. And if you want, I could bring my songs with me?" He said uncertainly. "How about you just choose a song or two that you'd like to play?" Keith nodded. "Okay. You should go to class before you're late," He said just as the bell rung signaling the one-minute warning. "It's fine. I have peer assistance, so they don't care if I'm late," Lance reassured him. "If you say so." Keith smiled, entering his classroom and sitting in the back corner of the room where he usually sat (despite the fact that the teacher changed the seating arrangement every other week, he stayed in the same spot until the teacher relented and started putting his name tag in the back corner away from all the other students). He pulled out his phone and tapped on the Naviance app before clicking out again as the teacher started droning on about the Ndop of King Mishe miShyaang.

He went to his contacts and sent Shiro a quick message of _'going to Palo Verde after school. got a ride.'_

He went back to the Naviance app, where he started taking notes about the Ndop, purposefully ignoring the vibrations of Shiro texting him multiple short messages.

* * *

 _"Keith."_ Shiro sounded like he was in physical pain as he said the name just outside his classroom, letting other students filter in. Each of them side-eyed him, looking desperately uncomfortable by the schiz kid standing outside _their_ classroom talking to _their_ teacher. Shiro sighed, sliding his hand down his face as if to wipe off the stress that had accumulated underneath his pores. "You don't just tell me these things half an hour before last period. There has to be a plan. Your pills are going to wear off. What are you going to do then?" Keith rolled his eyes. "I can take another pill if I need to. I think you're forgetting that I've been living with this my whole life. It's not that big a deal if they wear off early. I've never had big problems with it."

"Except when you almost got run over," Shiro reminded him. Keith winced at the memory, remembering how Shiro had rescued him from death. How he lost his arm that day.

"I'll be fine, Shiro. I'm not a stupid little kid anymore. Besides, when was the last time I asked you if I could go out with some friends?" Shiro thought for a moment. "A very sad amount. You know what? This'll be good for you. Make some friends for a change."

Keith swore he got whiplash from the speed at which Shiro's attitude changed by a simple comment on his lack of friends. "I have friends..." Keith mumbled. "Your sister and I don't count."

"I'm friends with Lotor."

"No, you aren't. You hate him."

"I also hate you," Keith answered smugly.

"Shut up. You love me." Shiro ruffled Keith's hair, something which he knew annoyed the younger boy to no end. "Anyways, you're going to want to get to class before the school assumes you're skipping again. Go, go." Shiro waved him off, for which he received a playful shove for his efforts before the raven headed to class in A building for SpEd. As the one-minute bell rung, he started running through the courtyard, pushing past the occasional straggler. He ran up the stairs and toward the SpEd classroom on the opposite side of the building and managed to get there just before the bell rung. "Sorry I'm late, Olia," He shoved off his backpack, dropping it in the corner of the room. "It's fine, Keith. The other kids are still in their last class anyways. No rush. And our new peer assistant hasn't gotten here yet, either." Keith smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I'm a little paranoid sometimes." Olia chuckled. "I'm well aware of that. And don't stress too much about truancy. You've got plenty of time to get to classes."

"Not that much time. If I'm late even 3 more times, I'll have to go to court and my foster family is going to drop me."

Olia smiled sympathetically. "If they drop you, I'll just adopt you and your sister. I've always wanted kids anyways." She straightened up, trying to make herself look more like an adult. Her short stature and her childish face didn't help much. Her freckles and short, brunette hair stood out against her tan, Israeli skin. Her doe eyes seemed to accent her other features perfectly, while making her look much younger than she was. She remembered being mistaken for a high-schooler multiple times while working at this school. At one point a student had asked if she'd gotten lost on her way to the middle school next door, though that was more likely a professionally aimed insult.

Both of them became distracted as a group of other students came into the room, herded in by a very familiar mop of brown hair. "Hey, Olia. Sorry we're late. Beezer needed a bathroom break and soon everyone else needed one as well. Oh, hey Keith." Lance waved at Keith, who'd gone to folding his arms across his chest. Olia smiled. "Keith, this is our new peer assistant, Lance. He's been helping out with the kids next door, but because he needs more credits, I'm letting him work with you during seventh period."

"What?" Keith's brows furrowed in confusion. "Shouldn't an actual teacher be working with me?" Olia nodded. "Yes, you will have a regular teacher, but Lance will be helping you if you don't understand certain things and helping you in other areas if the need arises. Lance has been taking a few advanced college classes at Estrella Mountain Community so he can take care of students with mental disabilities. So I'm perfectly confident in his abilities."

Keith groaned. "I don't need a babysitter, Olia."

"From what I've heard, you do. Should I call Shiro and have him corroborate?"

He grimaced. "Fine. Whatever."

"You can stay here for a couple minutes if you want, but you're going to have to go to Ms. Hira's room for class." Keith frowned. "It's fine. I'll just go now. Don't want to upset the General." He waved her off, leaving the classroom without bothering to see if Lance was following. Keith fidgeted, unconsciously rolling up his jacket sleeves before unrolling them again. Lance didn't mention it.

"Why did you call her the general?" Lance asked curiously.

"Because she used to be a General in the army, but after some sort of skirmish involving her trying to upgrade to commander, she was kicked out of the army. She hates it when people call her that now." Keith explained. "Why do you want to nanny a bunch of mentally ill people? Aren't there better things you could be doing? Like playing your guitar professionally? Or going to law school?" Lance chuckled. "I've got a little sister with autism, so it's more for her, but if I help other people along the way, that's fine with me. Besides, my parents need someone to help out at home while they're gone all the time," Lance chuckled. "I've got 6 siblings and four of them are already out of state and in college. So I have to babysit my younger brother and sister all the time. While my parents are out of state."

"What do your parents do that keeps them out of state?" Keith asked curiously. "Well, my mom's a model for Vogue magazines and my dad's a photographer for the same company. They make a lot of money, so if they needed to hire a nanny they could. But I'd prefer not to put the lives of my siblings in the hands of some stranger. Especially Ana."

"That's pretty cool. My sister, Axca, wants to become some sort of psychologist. She says she wants to change the world and cure mental illness. Imagine that," Keith said sarcastically with a barely visible, fond smile. "It's great to have goals. What about you? Are you going to change the world too?"

Keith scoffed. "There's nothing I really _can_ do. Not a lot of people will hire me for any job because of my schizophrenia. Colleges definitely wouldn't. Even if I try to become some sort of public speaker or build my own business, people will automatically think I'm an unreliable source or something. The only option I really have is to rot away in some mental facility for the rest of my life. I'm lucky that I haven't been forced into one already," Keith answered, frowning as he entered Ms. Hira's classroom. It was more of a nurse's office, having facilitated some medical classes during other periods and containing meds for some of the Special Education students. The pink-haired woman frowned back at him for different reasons.

"Kogane. Sit." She gestured toward one of the hospital beds arranged around the room. The one she gestured toward happened to be the only one with a CPR dummy on it. "You, What's your name?" She pointed at Lance with a ruler as Keith sat down on the hospital bed, taking care not to move the mannequin too much. "My name is Lance and I'm a peer assistant, ma'am." He stood up straighter, his voice wavering with obvious fear for the tall, buff woman waving her ruler around. Keith snickered from his spot and Ms. Hira cast a wary glance in his direction before lowering her ruler and voicelessly permitting Lance access to her classroom. Lance warily stepped around her and stood behind Keith.

"Has your medication worn off yet?" She asked, wandering around her desk and going through her drawers. She managed to loose at least one item in her classroom every half hour. Students of hers say she would have walked off without her ass at some point if it weren't attached.

"No. It shouldn't until around 6."

"Great," She managed, pulling out a notepad and an assorted box of pills. She plopped the box down on the bed next to him. "Take the ones marked 'Friday.' Just give me a second to find my pen and I'll get you a cup of water." She rummaged through her desk until Keith cleared his throat, gesturing to a wheelchair sitting in a corner of the room where her pen, for some mysterious reason, lay in the center of it. "Right," She grabbed the pen before going off to grab a cup of water from the giant sink. She gave him the cup and he swallowed the pills and the water in one big gulp. "No problems lately with your other classes?" She asked, holding her clipboard and pen at the ready. "None," Keith agreed. "Vision problems?" She looked up from her clipboard. "The usual." She nodded. "Any bad hallucinations?"

"Not that I can't handle."

"Paranoia?"

"A little worse than usual."

"Concentration?"

"Camp." Ms. Hira smiled slightly at the joke before frowning and slapping him softly on the knee with her ruler. "Concentration?"

"Fine."

"Any speech problems?"

"Not that anyone's mentioned."

"Any deluded or confused thoughts?"

"No more than usual."

"Any tics?"

"I've been kind of jumpy lately, I guess."

"Have you gotten any pills for your catatonia?"

"I haven't even mentioned it to my therapist yet," Keith answered, rolling up his sleeves and unrolling them again.

"You should. Becoming catatonic can have serious consequences."

"I know, I know. I just... I dunno." Keith started rocking in his seat almost imperceptibly, had it not been for the stillness in the room prior. Ms. Hira put down her clipboard, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Keith, calm down. I've still got a few more things I need to check. If it makes you feel better, I could ask Shiro to bring it up with the therapist for you?" Keith grimaced at that. "I mean, it's not that big a deal..." Ms. Hira glowered at him, unimpressed. "I'll mention it to Shiro." Keith sighed in defeat.

"Have you been taking care of yourself?"

"Axca helps me remember to do stuff, but probably not as much as I should."

"How's your memory?"

"Great."

"Okay. When you go to your therapist give her this," She gave him the sheet of paper she'd been scrawling on. "Remember to tell her about your catatonia, the flat affect, jumpiness," She paused. "And mention possibly getting a caretaker if you're not going to go to a hospital."

"I don't need a babysitter," Keith complained.

"Your sister and cousin have both mentioned that you haven't been taking care of yourself unless one of them forces you to. You look like you haven't slept or eaten in days." She poked him in the stomach.

"I'm fine," He grumbled, waving her off.

"That's not for me to judge. I'm merely speculating based on everything I've been told about you." She put her papers down and kicked against the bed, rolling the chair across the room so that she was back behind her desk again. "Anyways, I'm leaving early today, so you can leave if you want. Or hang out here. Doesn't matter to me." She proceeded to ignore the two boys as they shuffled out of the room, clearly uncomfortable being around her for more than a couple minutes.

"My guitar is in Takashi's classroom, so I'm just going to run in real quick and get it," Keith said awkwardly.

"Yeah, um. I'll go get the car and pull around and pick you up when you're done," Lance answered, rubbing the back of his head as he chuckled nervously before skedaddling. Keith shrugged it off and went into the building and walked to Shiro's class without paying attention. He got so into his head that he didn't notice how the strange things he'd grown so accustomed to in his life seemed to fade away now.

End A/N Notes:

The ending is supposed to be kind of open-ended and I guess hint at things to come in the future of this fic? Don't take the last line too literally.

I wrote this while listening to Alone by Sleeping With Sirens on repeat. Also I was in peer assistance for one year and I still have no clue how that crap works.

I kept running into spots where I couldn't figure out what to write because I don't know crap about what would happen in said situations. I bluffed my way through a lot of this anyways.

The rolling the sleeves thing is something I do with my jackets that are too big for me all the time because of my ADHD.

I did a lot more research for this fic than I did for my other psychotic depression!Keith fic.


	4. Kiss the Sun

A/N Notes: 

I somehow managed to go multiple paragraphs w/o using any pronouns for Pidge, which was lucky because I really wasn't paying attention to which ones I was using. And I also accidentally posted this chapter halfway through, so I deleted it and redid it.  
I was also in band for 4 years (it's been 3 years since I quit) so I know what I'm talking about... mostly. I played clarinet, which had a mouthpiece and ligature, which I assumed was the same wording used for the saxophone.  
I used to suck on my reed whenever we weren't playing and I'd flick it up and down and just stare cross-eyed at it for a while. I know I'm a weirdo, okay.

Keith sat in the passenger seat of Lance's minivan, giggling as Lance rocked out to It's Over, Isn't It? from Steven Universe. Even going so far as to riff on an imaginary guitar at the sound of a single note played by a string instrument, that instrument most definitely being a god damn violin. As soon as the song ended, it started onto a song that sounded like some sort of edgier version of techno. Keith raised an eyebrow in question.

"Pidge writes some songs. She and her brother DJ at a club in Pheonix on weekends. I think this song's called Action Winter Journey. I download all of my friend's music off spotify." Lance shrugged. "Your music style is very different from... uh, theirs?" Keith questioned, unsure of whether Pidge was trans or cis, male, female, or neither. Lance smiled at the effort. "Yeah, Pidge is a they. All of us have different styles of music. Pidge is more tech-y, I mostly write love songs, though more often than not they're kinda edgy, Hunk writes a lot of funny songs and songs about sex, despite being a precious cinnamon bun who has never had wet dreams in his life, and Allura composes country songs sometimes. We have a sort of spectrum of music. Plus all of us are studying to go into college for music, so we're pretty good." Keith nodded. "I usually write punk rock-type music, but I also write some other types of songs. But it's easier to write edgy songs, I think."

"You said you had schizophrenia?"

"Yeah."

"Catatonic schizophrenia, I mean. Does that affect your music? I don't mean to pry, but a lot of people who play with mental illness play songs that kind of reflect it. Like Pidge, who has cyclothymia. Their songs usually sound like what you might imagine they feels like at times. This song is actually pretty popular online and people call it the bipolar song because that's kind of what it is. And my ADHD may not be really bad, but it is very influential in some of my more upbeat songs, while my anxiety sort of controls the edgier songs I write," Lance explained.

"I think my depression influences my songs more than my schizophrenia does. Although Shiro says that some of my songs sound like a high person wrote them sometimes, but to me the words seem perfectly normal. I think it's really just the way I perceive things because of it. Do you usually make friends with a bunch of mentally ill people or is it just coincidence that you know so many?"

"Hunk isn't mentally ill and neither is Allura, if that's what you're saying. We never really knew that Pidge was bipolar until a couple years ago though."

"I never knew so many mentally ill people lived in this area though. It's kind of weird."

"You're kind of weird." Lance elbowed Keith, who squished his face into the window until Lance cried uncle. Keith was so busy laughing at Keith that when a tapping noise started up on the window, he jumped out of his skin only to receive choked laughter from Lance in return. He glanced out the window to see his sister, Axca, waiting patiently outside. He rolled down the window and she immediately started lecturing him.

"Keith, what have I said about warning me when you're going to have another ride home? And what about your meds? Shiro said you were leaving town tonight to play music? What if something happens and I'm not there to help you? It's decided. I'm coming with you and your douche bag friends." She opened the car door and slid into the back of the minivan without any sort of invitation.

"How many times do I need to say that I don't need a babysitter? And no one invited you to come along. I'm fine. I've got my meds and I've got Lance here. Nothing is going to happen anyways. I haven't gone catatonic in over a month and I haven't had any big issues on or off the pill in three years," Keith argued.

"I'm still coming whether you like it or not. And it's better to be safe than sorry." She settled in, pulling out her phone so she could text her girlfriend, her jet black hair falling into her face as she typed away.

Lance turned to Keith with a mischievous smile on his face. "She looks exactly like you. You guys even have the same mullet."

"It's not a mullet," Keith and Acxa said in unison. Lance smiled cheerfully. "Sure, it's not." He turned toward the school doors as the last bell rang. "Looks like that's the bell. Allura, Pidge, and Hunk should be here any moment now." And just like that, the three busted through the doors, racing toward the car. Pidge slammed the door open and yelled, "I'm Yao, king of the rock!" Hunk slid in beside her and Allura sulked as she slid into the back. "Keet-or," Allura slurred, slumping down into her seat. Pidge turned around in their seat, signing to Allura as they spoke. "It's not our fault if you're clumsy."

"Let's get this show on the road people. We're loosing daylight! Buckle up, buttercup," Lance remarked, pulling into gear and driving away without actually waiting for everyone to buckle up. "You sounded like Mushu for a second there," Pidge commented. "I'm a meme at heart, sweetie," Lance replied before turning onto the road and speeding down the street. Keith immediately grabbed the passenger assist handle (the chicken handle as Pidge and Lance liked to refer to it, which Hunk did not appreciate in the slightest) on the ceiling of the car, trying to right himself as Lance swerved into the far left lane during a right turn. Pidge leaned up behind him and whispered into his ear, "Chicken." He turned and saw his sister, calm as ever, texting on her phone. He sighed, resigning to his fate and praying that they wouldn't crash into the semi in front of them. As soon as Lance got a hold of Pidge chanting 'chicken, chicken, chicken" he joined in with her, which only made to freak Keith out more.

"Have you ever heard of a little thing called the speed limit?" Keith asked dryly, gripping the armrests with white knuckles. "Speed limit? Don't know her," Lance chuckled, still slowing down nonetheless for Keith's sake. "So where is this house of yours?" Keith asked breathlessly. "21401 West Granite Ridge Road," Lance answered quickly. "It's pretty much on the western edge of Verrado. North East of here. It's technically outside the school district, but my parents have a secondary house in Palo that's registered with the school district instead of our main house."

"How many houses do you have?"

"Five. Two here in Arizona, one in New York, one in California, and a beach house in Cuba."

"Holy shit." Keith's eyes widened at the implication of what he'd just said. "I mean, I didn't know you're parents made that much money. I've never even had a job or anything, so maybe I'm not a good source for what seems like a lot of money, but that just seems like... wow." He said hurriedly, side-eyeing Lance, who looked like he was on the verge of bursting into laughter. "Yeah. I mean, my grandfather is a congressman as well and my grandmother is a retired singer, plus my older siblings are a little all over the place. Hugo is the only one in the family that doesn't make a lot of money, but that's kind of because he likes to mooch off our parents." lance shrugged, pulling into a roundabout right next to a very large house.

"Here we are," Lance proclaimed, cutting the engine and getting out of the car with everyone else. It was a bit of a walk from the short roundabout at the side of the house to the driveway, which looked about as big as a Walmart parking lot. There were four garage doors to each side of the main entrance and a fountain on each side surrounded by palm trees with a large balcony above the large double doors that led into the house. Once inside, they were met with a second set of double doors, these being glass. An elaborate chandelier hung low over their heads and there were large potted plants erratically sorted into the small entrance. When they entered the front room, it was pristine and so clean it looked as if it had never been touched by time. Keith stood on the checkered tile, leaning against a column just outside the double doors admiring the room like a man who'd never seen wealth in his life (which wasn't true; he'd made a habit of watching the Kardashians on tv all the time).

The others, including Axca, walked onto the pure white tile covering the rest of the room. Pidge sat on the wooden table centered at one side of the room, while Hunk, Allura, and Axca settled down on the white and black couches. Axca set her muddy boots on the glass coffee table without any sort of concern continually messing with her phone. She wore a stained white tank top, skinny jeans, a red flannel which was tied around her waist, and a fur hat. She looked like she'd walked straight out of a forest in Oregon. Lance didn't seem to care that much about Axca making a mess of his house. Pidge wore a white shirt with the words "natural disaster" written on it and a pair of green shorts and sandals. Hunk wore his signature bandanna, a yellow shirt with a jersey over top, Adidas, black and white Nike pants. Allura wore a cropped sailor suit top and a long white skirt. She wore bright pink sandals which accented what she was wearing. Lance wore a dark blue tank top that had a yellow tag in the middle that said "BEST BI" in all caps. He had a light blue jacket over it and ripped jeans, which fishnet stockings could be seen through. His bright yellow sneakers popped with the outfit.

If you'd asked Keith, he would say him and his sister looked very out of place here. He wore his favorite red cropped jacket, his own pair of muddy boots, a black muscle tank, and cargo pants along with a scrappy old hat with the words "Palo Verde Fire Dept" on it. He noted that there were several antelope statues around the house and even the chandelier above the couches seemed to have been shaped to have a small resemblance of having antelope horns jutting out of the sides. Lance suddenly startled him out of his reverie by grabbing his arm and saying, "Help me bring out some snacks."

He dragged Keith back to the entrance, taking a left into a darkened room. Lance quickly flicked on the lights, revealing a kitchen with dark, brown, granite counter tops that were so clean, they served better as a mirror than a counter top despite the darkened color. The cabinets, stove and even the window linings were the same brown color with tan walls and floors and white accessories, such as the chairs, vase of flowers and bowl of fruit set up on the island. Lance immediately went to the fridge, pulling out a liter of cola, a bag of carrots, and a Tupperware case of what appeared to be blocks of cheese. He opened up the pantry next to the fridge and grabbed a couple bags of chips, shoving them into Keith's arms. He stacked up the carrots, cola, and cheese precariously on top of each other and led Keith back into the front room.

"Grab whatever and let's go upstairs."

"Already ahead of you." Pidge leapt up, snatching the carrots and racing up the stairs. "Last person to get set up pays for pizza!"

Axca looked up from her phone and grabbed the bottle of cola and ran upstairs after Pidge. "See ya' suckers!" She mock-saluted those still left downstairs. Hunk shrugged, snatching the cheese and running upstairs after everyone, while Keith stood in shock and Allura and Lance waited patiently for everyone to get ready.

"Chill, guys. Everyone knows I'm going to pay anyways," Lance said receiving a bored glare from Pidge, who hung over the gate above them. "That's boring, Lance."

Lance took a bag labeled "potato crisps" and tossed it to Allura, who fumbled with the bag for a moment before saying "dank joo" and heading upstairs with everyone else. Keith picked up his guitar case, which he'd sat next to one of the columns and handed Lance one of the bags of chips. Lance smiled mischievously for a moment before the two boys raced for the staircase. Keith managed to get there first and quickly got his guitar out of his case before Lance even got the chance to gather his bearings. "When did that staircase get so long? I feel like I just ran a marathon," Lance complained.

"Says the guy on the swim team," Pidge quarreled. Lance gave her the middle finger, popping the bag of chips in his hands and shoving a handful of chips into his mouth. "Swim team is different than track," Lance said around his mouthful of chips, careful to be extra disgusting about it, making Pidge cringe. Keith pulled out two crumpled packets of paper from his backpack, putting them in Lance's filthy hands before he could instigate the smaller person any further. Lance swallowed the chips before focusing on the packets of paper. The others circled around him, save Axca, who'd poured herself a glass of cola and was now chewing through a small block of brie, which Hunk told her was a very fine make from Wisconsin, to which she'd shrugged disinterestedly.

"This one says it requires the use of tenor and alto saxophone, as well as trombone? You do realize we don't have a marching band on hold for us, right?" Lance joked.

Keith shrugged. "I can play all three if that matters and the saxophones are switch parts, so they'd be played by the same person. If that's too much I could easily convert it to string instruments."

Lance nodded. "No, it's fine. Just wanted to double check." He made an attempt at smoothing down the papers against the leather couch near where his guitar, Allura's violin, and a doubky-necked guitar lay spread along the couch. Pidge dragged the zebra-patterned ottoman into a corner of the room by Hunk's drum set and set up their synthesizing equipment and keyboard. They kneeled down on the cheetah-patterned carpet as they plugged in some stuff, adjusting one of Hunk's stands against the glass doors that lined the wall and lead to a dark balcony so it was out of their way.

"I also like this one. Not necessarily the instrumental you've written for it though and the speed is a little slow, so I want to speed that up. Like 160 beats per minute. Is that okay?" Lance looked up for confirmation. "Sure. Whatever you want, man." Allura, seeming to have gotten the message left to bring her saxophones and Lance's euphonium. "And Pidge, do you think you could play something on your synthesizer for this instrumental part?" Pidge nodded, pressing a button that played a siren noise, to which Lance gave them a thumbs up. Axca sat criss-crossed on the floor with her phone, looking up every few minutes to make sure everyone was still there. She seemed to be doing a terrible job of keeping her twin brother in check. He passed the paper to Pidge, who immediately started cackling after they'd read the lyrics thoroughly.

"This song should be the theme for Yandere Simulator. Oh my God," They snorted at their own joke. Pidge looked at Keith and seeing the confused look on his face made them laugh even harder, rolling around on the floor in a fit of giggles. "My God, do you not know what Yandere Simulator is? You gotta play it after we're done here."

Lance rolled his eyes. "Ignore them." Everybody finally entered the room and got settled. Hunk to his drum set and Allura sitting on the couch with the double-necked guitar. Keith sat down on the couch with his guitar and Lance stayed standing with his guitar.

Pidge started her synthesizer as Lance started singing the first verse, playing soft background music.

 _Oh, oh, oh_

 _Oh, here we go_

 _Walkin', talkin' like you know_

 _I want your pretty little psycho_

Pidge played a warped version of the siren noise they'd played earlier and Keith softly sang "pretty little psycho" in the background, prompting Pidge to add another layer on synthetic music and dropping the siren before Hunk begun playing as Lance started singing again. Keith started playing on guitar as well

 _I'm ready to go, I'm taking chances_

 _Sippin' less from champagne glasses_

 _Gotta have you, I'm movin' closer_

 _I won't take no for an answer_

 _You're lookin' crazy, you're lookin' wrong_

 _It looks like we're gonna get along_

 _And once I've got you, it's a fact_

 _Baby, there's no turning back_

Hunk changed his playing slightly, as did Pidge while Keith dropped off entirely to do a pretend-cheer leading performance from the back of the group and earning a small chuckle from Hunk and a fond smile from Allura. She joined on her guitar, giving a little power to the song.

 _Make me,_

 _Make me impressed_

 _Make me,_

 _Make me obsessed_

Keith started playing again as they pulled into the chorus and practically screamed the words "pretty little psycho" along with Lance. Allura started playing along in the background along to a similar tune that Pidge was playing.

 _Oh, oh, oh_

 _Oh, here we go_

 _Walkin', talkin' like you know_

 _I want your pretty little psycho_

 _Oh, oh, oh_

 _Oh, here we go_

 _Baby strike a pose_

 _I want your pretty little psycho_

 _Pretty little, pretty little, pretty little psycho_

 _Pretty little, pretty little_

 _Pretty little psycho_

 _Pretty little, pretty little, pretty little psycho_

 _Pretty little, pretty little_

 _Pretty little psycho_

Pidge toned down back to how she'd been playing before with just a little bit more uppity background patterns, while Allura started playing louder to make up for it.

 _Black lipstick just like a cat_

 _Have you purrin' on your back_

 _Tip the glass, now light it up_

 _Rebel, rebel can't get enough_

 _You're lookin' crazy, you're lookin' wrong_

 _We look like we belong_

 _And once I've got you, it's a fact_

 _Baby, there's no turning back_

Keith did his little cheer leading shtick again, earning a disappointed slow clap from his sister, to whom he stuck his tongue out at.

 _Make me,_

 _Make me impressed_

 _Make me,_

 _Make me obsessed_

They hurried into the chorus, getting the hang of the song and doing very well, despite it being the first time most of them were playing it.

 _Oh, oh, oh_

 _Oh, here we go_

 _Walkin', talkin' like you know_

 _I want your pretty little psycho_

 _Oh, oh, oh_

 _Oh, here we go_

 _Baby strike a pose_

 _I want your pretty little psycho_

 _Pretty little, pretty little, pretty little psycho_

 _Pretty little, pretty little_

 _Pretty little psycho_

 _Pretty little, pretty little, pretty little psycho_

 _Pretty little, pretty little_

 _Pretty little psycho_

Pidge and Keith stopped playing, so that it was just Hunk and Allura playing now. Allura played at piano volume while Hunk took over. Keith gave that screamo effect in the last two lines.

 _There's somethin' about you driving me mad_

 _There's somethin' about you I've got to have_

 _There's somethin' about you_

 _There's somethin' about you_

 _There's somethin' about you driving me mad_

 _There's somethin' about you I've got to have_

 _There's somethin' about you_

 _There's somethin' about you_

They joined back into the chorus again, amping up the energy.

 _Oh, oh, oh_

 _Oh, here we go_

 _Walkin', talkin' like you know_

 _I want your pretty little psycho_

 _Oh, oh, oh_

 _Oh, here we go_

 _Baby strike a pose_

 _I want your pretty little psycho_

 _Oh, oh, oh_

 _Oh, here we go_

 _Walkin', talkin' like you know_

 _I want your pretty little psycho_

 _Oh, oh, oh_

 _Oh, here we go_

 _Baby strike a pose_

 _I want your pretty little psycho_

 _Pretty little, pretty little, pretty little psycho_

 _Pretty little, pretty little_

 _Pretty little psycho_

 _Pretty little, pretty little, pretty little psycho_

 _Pretty little, pretty little_

 _Pretty little psycho_

Allura clapped enthusiastically and Pidge threw a block of cheese at her, which she caught before it hit her in the forehead. "Dude, you can't even tell what we sound like. Why are you clapping?" They signed slowly and unsurely at her, but at the same time aggressively. Allura signed back with even more force and an angry look on her face before ending with a loud and verbalized "jack ash." Lance chose to ignore them and went over to Hunk and started joking around with him about how Pidge needed to chill out and ask Allura out already. Hunk seemed genuinely distressed by his arguing comrades and was glancing between them as if waiting to see who popped their lid first so he could run in the opposite direction. Lance suddenly turned to Keith without warning, making the overwhelmed boy jump in surprise. "Who's this other song about, though? Ex-girlfriend? What was the song called again?" He glanced at Hunk, who shook his head in disappointment. "It literally says the name like a million times in the song."

"It's called _She Wants Me Dead_. And it's about my sister. There's only 8 lines in the song that aren't the phrase 'she wants me dead.' I don't know how you missed that." Axca elbowed him in the ribs, to which he tasered her, which ended in a wrestling match in the middle of the room while the others conversed about the song, or in Lance's case, joked about the twin's mullets. Axca ended up winning the short, impromptu wrestling match before getting up and heading back to the couch and leaving Keith on the floor looking like he'd just busted a lung.

"Wait, it says here 'Woke up this morning with the devil in my bed.' Do you sleep with your sister?" Lance pointed out, making a sad attempt at a lenny face.

"We share a bunk bed if that's what you're asking." Keith sat up as he spoke.

Pidge suddenly whipped their head around in his direction, scaring the hell out of everyone in the room, aside from Axca, who was still glued to her phone. "Dude, that's gay."

Axca snorted. "Mood."

Keith flopped down on his back again and answered, "Same," to which his sister kicked him in the arm and he grabbed her foot, pulling her down to the ground with an ungraceful yelp.

"Anyways let's get to the next song, guys, gals, and nonbinary pals." He finger-gunned at Pidge, to which they flicked him off. He already had his euphonium sitting on his lap and next to him Allura had the alto sax out and the tenor set up in it's case.

"There's no guitar part for this song, so If you want I could take one of the sax parts?" Keith said uncertainly to Allura, pointing at the tenor on the floor. She signed at Lance and nodded.

"She says you need to wet a new reed though." Lance said nonchalantly. He and Allura shared instruments from time to time since it was sometimes a hassle having multiple of the same instruments in the same place all the time. They weren't exactly germaphobes, but it was common knowledge that you shouldn't share reeds. That was just gross. And it appeared that Keith was fully aware of this as he answered with a quiet, "I know," before opening a reed package and dropping it in Axca's soda to soak for a few minutes. She stared at him incredulously, but made no move to remove the object from her drink and even going so far as to take a sip of it.

"You probably shouldn't soak your reed in coke," Hunk said, but Keith shrugged in response. "Doesn't matter. I'm only going to use it for a short amount of time. Besides, it's better than soaking it in vodka." Axca smacked him on the back of the head for that and said, "Mom drinks sometimes. She let's him soak his reeds in her vodka because she read an article online that said it's supposed to help get rid of the lingering bacteria. And she doesn't care about drinking bacteria-infested vodka." She grimaced.

"My parents locked up the liquor room, but I'm still trying to figure out how to pick locks, so it won't be for very long," Lance said with a faux determination on his face. Pidge snorted. "Yeah, that's happening. This wimp won't even go into his parent's room because they said no. He's not walking into a room full of liquor anytime soon." Keith took the reed out of Axca's cola and shook a few droplets onto Axca, who grimaced and kicked him in the shin. He put it in his mouth, getting the extra moisture off it before fastening it to the mouthpiece with the golden ligature from the case. He played out a c minor scale to make sure it was tuned right before adjusting the mouthpiece and playing again.

"Ready?" Keith nodded. Allura played a small mezzo piano solo before Keith started playing the first part just as Lance starts singing. Hunk joined in shortly thereafter.

 _Woke up this morning with a gun to my head_

 _Somebody help me, she wants me dead_

 _Woke up this morning with the devil in my bed_

 _In the air, everywhere in my maze and in my head_

Allura started playing a soft crescendo in the background as Lance continued. It was slightly different from the way Keith wrote it originally, lacking the trombone part and replacing it with the alto sax.

 _She wants me dead, dead dead, dead, dead, dead_

 _Dead, dead, dead, d-dead_

 _She wants me dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead_

 _Dead, dead, dead, dead_

 _She wants me dead, d-d-dead, dead, dead_

 _She wants me dead, dead, dead, d-dead_

Keith stopped playing and Lance started up on trombone, Keith replacing him with vocals. Trombone and alto eventually began their circling solos, dancing around each other in melody. Pidge played dutifully on her keyboard, while also managing to synthesizing a bit just as the beat dropped.

 _She wants me dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead_

 _Dead, dead, dead, dead_

 _She wants me dead, d-d-dead, dead, dead_

 _She wants me dead, d-d-dead, dead, dead_

 _She wants me dead, d-d-dead, dead, dead_

 _D-d-dead, dead, dead, d-d-dead, dead, dead_

 _She wants me dead, d-d-dead, dead, dead_

 _She wants me dead, d-d-dead, dead, dead_

 _She wants me dead, d-d-dead, dead, dead, d-d_

 _D-d-dead, dead, dead_

 _Dead, dead, dead, d-d-dead, dead, dead_

Allura played a short solo before Lance started singing again and Keith played the tenor saxophone while Hunk played a steady beat behind them.

 _Woke up this morning with a gun to my head_

 _Brotha' should have told me she want me dead_

 _Without a warning, not a clue, without a sound_

 _In your house, out of bounds, you can run but you can't hid_ _e_

Allura started playing the steady trombone translation in Lance's place on alto while he continued to sing.

 _She wants me dead, dead dead, dead, dead, dead_

 _Dead, dead, dead, d-dead_

 _She wants me dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead_

 _Dead, dead, dead, dead_

 _She wants me dead, d-d-dead, dead, dead_

 _She wants me dead, dead, dead, d-dead_

 _She wants me dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead_

 _Dead, dead, dead, dead_

 _She wants me dead, d-d-dead, dead, dead_

 _She wants me dead, d-d-dead, dead, dead_

 _She wants me dead, d-d-dead, dead, dead_

 _D-d-dead, dead, dead, d-d-dead, dead, dead_

 _She wants me dead, d-d-dead, dead, dead_

 _She wants me dead, d-d-dead, dead, dead_

 _She wants me dead, d-d-dead, dead, dead, d-d_

 _D-d-d-d, d-d-d-d, dead, dead, dead_

Lance started playing alongside Allura's funky rhythm and Keith stopped playing for the rest of the song. Pidge played a sound that sounded suspiciously like a gunshot at the end of the song from her synthesizer.

Lance high-fived Hunk as they finished. Allura clapped again, receiving another round of cheese being thrown at her from Pidge's direction, to which she just laughed and blocked the cheese with her forearms. Her laughter sounded distinctly like bells.

Lance rubbed his palms together and addressed Keith, "Now it's time for you to learn the songs we have planned for tonight." He grinned in anticipation. "You already know James Dean and Audrey Hepburn, so we don't have to do those songs unless you want to have extra practice, but I don't think you'll really need it. But there's a few other songs you haven't played yet, so yeah."

Keith had already taken of the reed and was now sucking on it like a pacifier, flicking it up and down in front of his face. He stared cross-eyed at it, which made him kind of look like a little kid trying to look at a bug that'd landed on it's nose. "Yeah, cool." He set the tenor sax back in it's case and laid back on the floor again, messing with the sleeve of Axca's flannel.

"You two look like you could be identical twins. I mean, aside from the boobs, you two look exactly alike," Pidge chirped. Axca glanced at Keith, then at Pidge. "Yeah, but I'm also not a moron." She then went back to her texting and Keith punched her in the side.

"I prefer the term 'mild mental sub-normality,'" Keith answered jokingly.

"More like 'mild mental retardation.'" Axca flicked him in the forehead. "But seriously, when we were kids and before Keith's voice matured, people used to think we were the same person."

"Remember Halloween last year?" Keith commented. Axca snapped her fingers. "Oh, yeah. We dressed like each other, but with Japanese school uniforms and we'd go up to people's doors (we were trick or treating with a few kids I was babysitting) and I remember one old lady said we both looked cute, especially Keith. So Keith, smiles and in the deepest voice he can muster says, 'thank you, ma'am.' So this old lady looks like she's about to have an aneurysm and the kids are busting a nut about it. Long story short, we were unable to leave that poor old woman's house for several long minutes."

Lance is leaning against Hunk and howling with laughter, while Pidge looks like they might asphyxiate themself in an attempt to keep from laughing. Hunk clears his throat in an attempt to stop the giggles from escaping and Allura's rolling around in mirth on the couch. "It wasn't the first time I'd managed to convince him to wear a skirt in public either. Far from it," Axca added.

Keith shrugged. "I didn't have much dignity left in the first place. Minus well." At this point they're all choking on laughter over something that isn't even all that funny.

"I'm just trying to imagine Keith rocking a skirt and giving old ladies aneurysms," Lance chokes out between peals of laughter. Axca dramatically snaps her fingers, giving her best impression of Regina George from Mean Girls. "That is the ugliest fucking skirt I've ever seen."

Keith rolls his eyes, giving his own impersonation of Regina George. "She's so pathetic. Let me tell you something about Janis Ian. We were best friends in middle school. I know, right? It's so embarrassing. I don't even... Whatever. So then in eighth grade, I started going out with my first boyfriend Kyle who was totally gorgeous but then he moved to Indiana, and Janis was like, weirdly jealous of him. Like, if I would blow her off to hang out with Kyle, she'd be like, 'Why didn't you call me back?' And I'd be like, 'Why are you so obsessed with me?' So then, for my birthday party, which was an all-girls pool party, I was like, 'Janis, I can't invite you, because I think you're lesbian.' I mean I couldn't have a lesbian at my party. There were gonna be girls there in their _bathing suits_. I mean, right? She was a LESBIAN. So then her mom called my mom and started yelling at her, it was so retarded. And then she dropped out of school because no one would talk to her, and she came back in the fall for high school, all of her hair was cut off and she was totally weird, and now I guess she's on crack."

"Oh my fucking God." Lance laid on the floor wheezing.

"Boo! You whore!" Axca retorted, sending Pidge into a fit of giggles.

"OK, I'm going to forgive you because I'm a very Zen person. And I'm on a lot of pain medication right now," Pidge answered in their own Regina impersonation.

Keith cleared his throat before saying to Pidge, "I know she's kind of socially retarded and weird, but she's my friend… so, just promise me you won't make fun of her."

"I hate all of you," Lance wheezed from his spot on the floor, while Hunk looked down on him with disappointment.

"Boo, you whore!" The three of them yelled at Lance together, high-fiving each other.

They were going to have a great night.

End A/N Notes:

This is the house Lance lives in.  
Axca is basically Wendy (from Gravity Falls) in this chapter. Probably because I watched the last 4 episodes of Gravity Falls again and once again got immersed into the fandom that should be dead, but still isn't (mostly because people think that it hasn't actually ended). And Keith and Axca's dynamic is kind of how it is between me and my sisters. Allura's voice for this is supposed to be soft and adorable, kind of like a baby girl's.  
Also I loved the background song in the Voltron season 7 trailer, so I added it to the playlist of songs I am using for this fic. :) You are welcome.  
My dad was drunk and I tried to explain the basic storyline of this to him and he asked me, "How is Lance able to save the universe if he's taking care of his sister? Is his sister actually autistic or are you making this up? They probably won't get much saving done if they're all mentally ill." This was after I told him that this was a high school au and that they weren't saving the universe in my story (multiple times, I might add).  
Also I'm aware that the bipolar meme is not meant to represent the disorder. I just think the sound of the music kind of reflects that sort of thing [idk how to say what I'm thinking/I swear I'm not actively trying to offend people] (again, that's just how I feel and I'm pretty sure that was not the creator's original purpose for the song).  
It's Over Isn't It - Rebecca Sugar  
Action Winter Journey - Nero's Day At Disneyland  
Pretty Little Psycho - Porcelain Black (Nightcore version)  
She Wants Me Dead - Cazzette, AronChupa (Kind of a mixup between the original and the Nightcore version, since the Nightcore version seemed more baritone saxophone inclined than the original and I really like that bass sound. Saxaphones actually sound really nice. I like alto, bass, baritone, soprano, soprillo, sopranino, tenor, contrabass, and subcontrabass. My personal favorites are the classical alto, bass, tenor, and baritone. Soprillo, soprano, and sopranino look and sound a little like the clarinet, which is why I like them. Contrabass and subcontrabass are gigantic monsters and are pretty awesome to watch being played. And alto, bass, tenor, and baritone are saxes that were often used in the bands I played in. I liked listening to them and whenever I listened to music that had saxes in them, I always tried to guess what type of sax was being played, along with other instrument types. I also wanted to play the oboe at one point, but I wasn't very good despite how hard I tried, so I quit while I was still just playing clarinet.)


	5. Far Beyond Our Universe

A/N Notes:

I had a hard time picking the last time. I started writing out one song, then another, until I ended up with this song.

Also, Keith's been hanging out with the others off-screen so it's not like they're just being vulnerable in front of people they barely know.  
I want Keith and Axca to do the awkward sibling hug at some point.  
*Just in case you were curious or you were a music expert and caught onto this already, the instruments used in this fic are not the exact same ones used in their respective songs or weren't there at all. I did that on purpose. Some of it was because I liked a different instrument, other times it was because I didn't like certain sounds in the songs, but mostly it was because I couldn't figure out what exact instruments were being used by sound. I was having trouble just looking up what instruments were used, but I just used whatever instrument I liked best. And I haven't made a lot of specifications as to what kinds of guitars they've been using. My sister has an acoustic electric bass guitar (which my mom calls a toy guitar) and my mom and I went shopping for her guitar, so I have a little knowledge about guitar types, but I'm not too confident in my abilities. I gave hints though in the first chapter! Electric guitars are the only ones that are applicable with amps (to my knowledge)! But just make the assumption that they're using electric, bass, or electric bass guitars. Or acoustic for some songs.*

Keith strummed his guitar softly, humming along to a song in his head. Axca laid her head on his lap and had her feet on top of Hunk's lap, where he sat contentedly watching the TV screen in front of him as Lance agitatedly avoided an untimely death via Pidge and their sub-machine gun that they'd been chasing Lance around the video game with. Allura had her arms around Pidge and was silently cheering them on.

"An hour 'till we leave, guys," Hunk commented with his eyes still glued to the screen.

"Okay," Lance answered right before screaming at the screen as his in-game character died. He collapsed backwards on the floor before mumbling a few curses and handing Hunk the controller to Hunk. "Avenge me, Hunk. Avenge me!" He cried rather dramatically. He scooted back to sit with Keith and Axca while Hunk aggressively pounded buttons on the controller in a futile attempt to beat Pidge. After a few seconds of watching the screen, Lance got bored and started watching Keith play, messing up a note every few minutes and starting the song over again. He had a guitar pick in the corner of his mouth that he chewed on instead of using it to play with. He squinted at the strings as if he were reading a book from a distance.

"What're you playing?" Lance int interrupted him.

"Killer In the Mirror," Keith mumbled. "I've got the lyrics down, I'm just trying to compose the guitar chords."

"Why don't you sing it out loud? I'm sure that might help. Maybe I can help. See how the chords go along with the lyrics and such," Lance offered.

"Fine." Keith let out a breath and started out the first chords on his guitar, staring down in a haze before he started singing the first verse. Lance hummed along to his singing, closing his eyes and listening closely to the song.

 _Look out, they're closing in on you now_

 _Wake up, or you'll wake up six feet down_

 _Nobody's got your back in this town_

 _Knock em in the teeth now_

 _Out here there's no negotiation_

 _No room to start a conversation_

 _Before you get a taste it's taken_

 _Never let ya guard down_

He started singing faster and more poignant at this point.

 _Get back, put your hands up_

 _Kinda messed up, but it's tough luck_

 _And I'm sorry, but I don't feel bad for you_

 _Cause I know if, you could switch this_

 _You'd be dishin' out the same shit_

 _Sayin' sorry, but I don't feel bad_

He paused for a moment in thought before playing a prolonged note, then 2 more higher ones without singing the chorus along with it. He stopped, playing it again and slamming his hand down on the strings in frustration.

"You should inverse those notes, then play them again," Lance commented, opening his eyes now. "Like this." He reached up and strummed the same notes, but playing it backwards. He then played the 3 notes Keith had played again. "Rinse and repeat."

"Right." He started playing again, steadily becoming more absorbed in the music and singing with more vitality.

Hunk unconsciously started tapping a beat against the side of the game controller with his pointer and middle finger, making a soft pitapat, pitapat, pitapat.

 _Now I know_

 _There's no one I can trust_

 _I used to think there was_

 _Tell me that I'm cut throat_

 _I think you got your eyes closed_

 _Feel the fear_

 _And swallow back the tears_

 _Let weakness disappear_

 _There's nobody but me here_

 _The killer in the mirror_

 _Killer in the, killer in the, killer in the mirror_

 _Killer in the, killer in the, killer in the mirror_

Keith started playing softer again and singing with more control over his words.

 _Where did, all of the good people go?_

 _They hide, behind the bars on windows_

 _In hopes, they can forget we're close_

 _Try'na get some of what they've got_

 _'Cause I used to believe in justice_

 _A place, where there was better judgment_

 _But now, I'm feeling so disgusted_

 _By the have its and the have nots_

He sung faster, nearly stumbling over his words and Lance nodded along to the beat.

 _Get back, put your hands up_

 _Kinda messed up, but it's tough luck_

 _And I'm sorry, but I don't feel bad for you_

 _Cause I know if, you could switch this_

 _You'd be dishin' out the same shit_

 _Sayin' sorry, but I don't feel bad_

As he transitioned into the chorus, his voice went from the hard as steel singing from before to a sweeter and less staccato version.

 _Now I know_

 _There's no one I can trust_

 _I used to think there was_

 _Tell me that I'm cut throat_

 _I think you got your eyes closed_

 _Feel the fear_

 _And swallow back the tears_

 _Let weakness disappear_

 _There's nobody but me here_

 _The killer in the mirror_

 _Killer in the, killer in the, killer in the mirror_

 _Killer in the, killer in the, killer in the mirror_

Keith's words became harsh and he seemed almost angry as he sung through grated teeth.

 _Knock 'em in the teeth now_

 _Never let ya guard down_

 _Get some of what they've got_

 _Have its and the have nots_

 _Knock 'em in the teeth now_

 _Never let ya guard down_

 _When they step in your house_

 _Knock, knock, knock 'em all the fuck out!_

He paused for a moment for effect before starting up the chorus again.

 _Now I know_

 _There's no one I can trust_

 _I used to think there was_

 _Tell me that I'm cut throat_

 _I think you got your eyes closed_

 _Feel the fear_

 _And swallow back the tears_

 _Let weakness disappear_

 _There's nobody but me here_

 _The killer in the mirror_

 _Killer in the, killer in the, killer in the mirror_

 _Killer in the, killer in the, killer in the mirror_

 _Feel the fear_

 _And swallow back the tears_

 _Let weakness disappear_

 _There's nobody but me here_

 _The killer in the mirror_

Hunk stopped tapping on his controller and glanced back at the three of them just in time to loose to Pidge, who celebrated their victory rather loudly.

 _Killer in the, killer in the, killer in the mirror_

 _Killer in the, killer in the, killer in the mirror_

Allura gave Pidge a kiss on the cheek for their victory before the two turned their attention to Keith.

"Dude, can we play that song instead of the She Wants Me Dead one? I've got, like, ideas. " Pidge said, making jazz hands as they said the word 'ideas.' "And I would also prefer not to be crammed in the back with your saxophones if we're being honest here." Allura giggled at that, punching them in the arm softly. "It's a work in progress, but I think we can make something out of it."

Keith shrugged (he notes that he has seemed to make a habit of this every time someone asks him a yes or no question). "Yeah, sure. Doesn't matter to me."

Hunk raised his hand shyly from behind Pidge. "Yes, Hunk. Speak now or forever hold your peace," Lance pointed at him.

"Until we leave, can we maybe do a competition, sort of? Like, each of us play a song, ones we've written ourselves, until we run out of songs to play or run out of time." Hunk twiddled his fingers nervously.

"Sounds like a great idea, Hunk! Who all wants to play?" Pidge answered enthusiastically, saving the soft boy from his own nervousness. Lance and Keith cheered in approval while Allura signed at them, one-handedly. "She says she'll just play one song. It's not going to be one that she wrote, though." Hunk smiled, nodding at Allura in confirmation.

"Then I guess that means you can start, Allura." She smiled and got up. She walked around the couch and reappeared with a fiddle in front of the group.

"Oh, this is going to be good," Pidge whispered right before Allura started with a sick and familiar solo. Everyone cheered and joined together to sing (more like cheered) the first verse. During the first verse, she played her own made up solo, making Pidge cheer for her amazing skill (truth be told she'd played the song so many times she'd written her own fiddle part were there was none years ago).

 _The devil went down to Georgia_

 _He was lookin' for a soul to steal_

 _He was in a bind_

 _'Cause he was way behind_

 _And he was willin' to make a deal_

 _When he came upon this young man_

 _Sawin' on a fiddle and playin' it hot_

 _And the devil jumped_

 _Up on a hickory stump_

 _And said, "boy, let me tell you what_

 _I guess you didn't know it_

 _But I'm a fiddle player too_

 _And if you'd care to take a dare, I'll make a bet with you_

 _Now you play a pretty good fiddle, boy_

 _But give the devil his due_

 _I'll bet a fiddle of gold_

 _Against your soul_

 _'Cause I think I'm better than you"_

 _The boy said, "my name's Johnny_

 _And it might be a sin_

 _But I'll take your bet_

 _And you're gonna regret_

 _'Cause I'm the best there's ever been"_

Everyone became more enthusiastic at the chorus (mostly because they knew the words to that part better than the rest).

 _Johnny, rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard_

 _'Cause hell's broke loose in Georgia, and the devil deals the cards_

 _And if you win, you get this shiny fiddle made of gold_

 _But if you lose, the devil gets your soul_

She played another solo, to which everyone cheered before the next verse came up.

 _The devil opened up his case_

 _And he said, "I'll start this show"_

 _And fire flew from his fingertips_

 _As he rosined up his bow_

 _Then he pulled the bow across the strings_

 _And it made an evil hiss_

 _And a band of demons joined in_

 _And it sounded something like this_

She played a broken sound on her fiddle before pointing her bow at Keith in a silent gesture to start playing the next guitar part, to which he obliged, playing what he remembered from the song. Lance leaped behind the couch, grabbing his own guitar and joining in. Then Allura started playing as well, playing to a point.

 _When the devil finished_

 _Johnny said, "well, you're pretty good, old son_

 _But sit down in that chair right there_

 _And let me show you how it's done"_

 _Allura then played the into to another solo as the rest of them cheered the lyrics._

 _He played Fire on the Mountain run boys, run_

 _The devil's in the House of the Rising Sun_

 _Chicken in a bread pan pickin' out dough_

 _Granny, does your dog bite? No child, no_

She played the solo with such ease, it looked like magic to the others who watched in awe.

 _The devil bowed his head_

 _Because he knew that he'd been beat_

 _And he laid that golden fiddle_

 _On the ground at Johnny's feet_

 _Johnny said, "Devil, just come on back_

 _If you ever want to try again_

 _I done told you once you son of a bitch_

 _I'm the best that's ever been"_

 _He played Fire on the Mountain run boys, run_

 _The devil's in the House of the Rising Sun_

 _Chicken in a bread pan pickin' out dough_

 _Granny, does your dog bite? No child, no_

Allura quickly and effectively played the last part of the piece amazingly, before finishing with a flourish, sweat beading her brow. Pidge practically tackled her to the ground, giving her praises on her performance aloud and signing one-handedly. Hunk managed to sneak himself into the hug and Lance followed, urging Keith to follow. Keith shook his head, though smiling and leaned away when Lance made an attempt at pulling him into the group hug.

They eventually pulled apart, laughing and congratulating Allura. They'd seen her play much harder songs, but they all still felt in awe every time she played an instrument with such expertise like she always did. Lance was especially aware of how hard it had been for her to loose her hearing after having been there for her the whole time she'd been suffering. He'd been the first to jump on the let's-all-learn-to-speak-sign-language-for-Allura train. They'd all been quick to (aside from Allura, who'd been in denial about it until her hearing was almost completely gone).

"Hunk, you go next since it was your idea," Pidge ordered. "Why is it always me?" Hunk whined, to which the entire group (even Axca) started chanting his name. Lance at one point broke off and started chanting 'peer pressure,' to which everyone joined in heartily until Hunk obliged to their wishes.

"Fine, um, I guess I'll play Lone Digger. Should I play it on the drums or...?" Hunk asked uncertainly. "Whatever you want, bro. Just get 'er done," Pidge said, glaring at Lance when he started giggling at their strange way of speaking.

It took a little while, but Hunk managed to move the drum set into the large game room so that he could play. "I'm gonna add a metric modulation to the song," Hunk added as an afterthought before he started playing. He wasn't the best singer out there, but it was clear that he had some skill. Pidge added an extra beat in the background as Hunk played to make the song a little more interesting.

 _Hey, brother, what you thinking?_

 _Leave that old record spinning_

 _You feel the rhythm, going_

 _They call it lonely digging_

 _Let's end your time to lay low_

 _Your knees a-bending, so_

 _It's time to get up and let go_

 _You're gonna come undone_

 _Hey, mama, how's it going?_

 _Can't see your body moving_

 _Don't leave the party dying_

 _They call it lonely digging_

 _Your booty shaking, you know_

 _Your head has no right to say no_

 _Tonight it's ready, set, go_

Hunk applied the metric modulation to the next verse, his speed going up 20 bpm as he rapped through the chorus in eighth notes.

 _Baby can you move it round the rhythm_

 _So we can get with 'em_

 _To the ground and get us a rock and roll round_

 _Just a downtown body body coming with a super-hottie_

 _Let's go, yes, no, hell no_

 _Baby can you move it round the rhythm_

 _'Cause you know we're living in the fast lane, speed up_

 _It ain't no game, just turn up all the beams when I come up on the scene_

Hunk rocked out for a few beats before slowing down again. Allura took up her fiddle and started playing a soft background.

 _Hey, brother, what you thinking?_

 _That good ol' sound is ringing_

 _They don't know what they're missing_

 _They call it lonely digging_

 _Let's end your time to lay low_

 _Your knees a-bending, so_

 _It's time to get up and let go_

 _Hey, brother, nice and steady_

 _Put down your drink, you ready_

 _It's hard when things get messy_

 _They call it lonely digging_

 _Your booty shaking, you know_

 _Your head has no right to say no_

 _Tonight it's ready, set, go_

Pidge played some flute sounds on her keyboard before the chorus started up again, boosting in speed.

 _Baby can you move it round the rhythm_

 _So we can get with 'em_

 _To the ground and get us a rock and roll round_

 _Just a downtown body body coming with a super-hottie_

 _Let's go, yes, no, hell no_

 _Baby can you move it round the rhythm_

 _'Cause you know we're living in the fast lane, speed up_

 _It ain't no game, just turn up all the beams when I come up on the scene_

Pidge, Allura, and Hunk all played a soft and calm instrumental on their respective instruments before they started up the chorus again.

Baby can you move it round the rhythm

 _So we can get with 'em_

 _To the ground and get us a rock and roll round_

 _Just a downtown body body coming with a super-hottie_

 _Let's go, yes, no, hell no_

 _Baby can you move it round the rhythm_

 _'Cause you know we're living in the fast lane, speed up_

 _It ain't no game, just turn up all the beams when I come up on the scene_

Axca, Keith, and Lance cheered them on and Hunk gave a mock bow from his seat. "Dude, I wonder what your moms would say to a song like that," Pidge commented.

"Nene would probably start making horrible jokes about the song," Hunk sighed in embarrassment. "Makuahine would probably shake her head in disappointment at the both of us." He laughed. "Okay, you get to go next since you put me on the spot."

Pidge put a hand over their heart in mock-offense, before they resigned themself to their fate. "M'kay. I guess I'll play Everybody Gets High, since it's a great song."

"Don't start acting all high and mighty, pipsqueak," Lance taunted, earning him a harsh kick in the shin from said pipsqueak.

Pidge started playing their synthesizer, setting it to continue the same pattern until they decided to change it up. Which they did often throughout the song. They were an even worse singer than Hunk, but they sung well enough that it was bearable.

 _Once upon a time in a land far away_

 _There lived a little boy and he drank all day_

 _Friends called him stupid and his brothers called him gay_

 _Emptied all the bottles 'til the pain went away_

 _Whiskey was his friend, he didn't have another_

 _Vicodin his vice, his real and only lover yup_

 _Smoked a pack or two, it never was a problem_

 _Popped a pill or two, they really made him blossom yup_

 _Take a sip, take a sip, take a sip_

 _And I trip, and I trip, and I trip_

 _And I'm like, when ya bitch, when ya bitch, when ya bitch_

 _Counterfeit hypocrite, holy shit_

 _Once upon a time in a land far away_

 _There lived a little boy and he cried all day_

 _Playboy bunny magazines would never get him laid_

 _He downed another bottle 'til the pain went away_

 _Whiskey was his friend, he didn't have another_

 _Vicodin his vice, his real and only lover (yup)_

 _Smoked a pack or two, it never was a problem_

 _Popped a pill or two, they really made him blossom (yup)_

 _Take a sip, take a sip, take a sip_

 _And I trip, and I trip, and I trip_

 _And I'm like, when ya bitch, when ya bitch, when ya bitch_

 _Counterfeit hypocrite, holy shit_

 _Take a sip, take a sip, take a sip_

 _And I trip, and I trip, and I trip_

 _And I'm like, when ya bitch, when ya bitch, when ya bitch_

 _Counterfeit hypocrite, holy shit_

 _Everybody gets high_

 _All I ever get is high_

 _Yup_

 _Everybody gets high_

 _All I ever get is high_

 _Yup_

 _Everybody gets high_

 _All I ever get is high_

 _Yup_

 _Everybody gets high_

 _All I ever get is high_

 _Yup_

 _Take a sip, take a sip, take a sip_

 _And I trip, and I trip, and I trip_

 _And I'm like, when ya bitch, when ya bitch, when ya bitch_

 _Counterfeit hypocrite holy shit_

 _Everybody gets high_

 _All I ever get is high_

 _Everybody gets high_

 _All I ever get is high_

 _Everybody gets high_

 _All I ever get is high_

 _Everybody gets high_

 _All I ever get is high_

They were so concentrated on the song, they didn't notice the smiles of the people around them. They jumped whenever everyone started cheering at the end of the song.

"Dude, I wonder what your mom would say to a song like that," Lance mimicked Pidge's earlier comment.

"Dude, my mom looks like she's a hardcore druggie. I've never seen her smoke in her life though," Pidge answered all seriousness. "You go next, Lance."

Lance groaned in defeat. "Let's see," He put his hand to his chin, stroking an invisible beard. "Even If It's a Lie," He quickly decided. "Actually, I'm going to play this on the piano up in the other room, if everyone's willing to get off their asses.

Everyone groaned in unison, but continued to get up, collecting trash and instruments and moving to the room they'd been practicing in before. Keith and Axca immediately plopped down on the tile in front of the fireplace, Hunk, Pidge, and Allura settled on the couch. Lance went for the piano that sat against the wall that led to the hallway. He uncovered the notes and started playing softly and gently, but with undertones of power. He sung calmly and confidently with some sadness lacing the notes.

 _I was growing younger day by day, there was love and it was all the rage_

 _And I held you with the wandering eye_

 _Now I know the girl I shoulda known, now I feel the love I should've shown_

 _And I pull you in but you push me out_

 _And I, know, you don't love me so but please say it once before I go_

He sung the chorus loudly as if in anguish over the preceding events he sung of.

 _I know that you can feel me_

 _Tell me that you don't love me_

 _But say it one more time_

 _I'm going darling, I'll step lightly_

 _Live on as if you still love me_

 _Just say it one more time_

 _Even if it's a lie, even if it's a lie_

He seemed to calm himself before singing the next verse aloud for a moment.

 _Colours in the dress you used to wear_

 _The way that you'd put up your golden hair_

 _But I'll turn the lights down and leave_

 _All the ways that I could say it now_

 _You're the girl to push away my doubt_

 _But it's too late and were too young to know_

 _And I, know, you don't love me so but please say it once before I go_

His voice seemed to strain slightly at his attempt to keep his emotions out of his voice.

 _I know that you can feel me_

 _Tell me that you don't love me_

 _But say it one more time_

 _I'm going darling, I'll step lightly_

 _Live on as if you still love me_

 _Ju st say it one more time_

Lance hummed along to the piano as he played expertly until moving on to the chorus again.

 _I know that she can feel me_

 _Tell me that you don't love me_

 _But say it one more time_

 _I'm going darling, I'll step lightly_

 _Live on as if still still lov e me_

 _Just say it one more time_

 _Even if it's a lie, even if it's a lie_

 _Even if it's a lie, even if it's a lie_

He sung the last line a little dejectedly, letting the last notes of the piano hang in the air as if to a life-line.

Everyone was quiet for a moment until Keith stood up and sat on the bench next to Lance at the piano. "My turn."

Lance hummed in agreement, moving aside and walking away to the ottoman and sitting cross-legged.

"Um, this one's called How Could You Leave Us. I've never actually played in in front of anybody before and it's been a while since I played it at all, so I might be a little rusty," Keith rattled on nervously.

"Just play it, loser," Pidge teased, lightening the mood again so that Allura and Hunk could gain the sense back to give Lance a pat on the back for his efforts.

"Okay," He breathed, tentatively playing the first notes of the song and singing shortly after, voice wavering slightly.

 _How could you leave us so unexpected?_

 _We were waiting, we were waiting_

 _For you but you just left us_

 _We needed you, I needed you_

Axca gasped in recognition to the events Keith sung about, covering her mouth as if to cover her own reaction. Keith played slowly, but sung loudly, covering the sound of Axca's quiet whimpers. To her, it felt like each line was another knife reminding her of their past.

 _Yo, I don't know what it's like to be addicted to pills_

 _But I do know what it's like to be a witness it kills_

 _Mama told me she love me, I'm thinking this isn't real_

 _I think of you when I get a whiff of that cigarette smell, yeah_

 _Welcome to the bottom of hell_

 _They say pain is a prison, let me out of my cell_

 _You say you proud of me, but you don't know me that well_

 _Sit in my room, tears running down my face and I yell_

 _Into my pillowcases, you say you coming to get us_

 _Then call 'em a minute later just to tell us you not, I'm humiliated_

 _I'm in a room with a parent that I don't barely know_

 _Some lady in the corner watching us, while she taking notes_

 _I don't get it mom, don't you want to watch your babies grow?_

 _I guess that pills are more important, all you have to say is no_

 _But you won't do it will you? You gon' keep popping 'til those pills kill you_

 _I know you gone but I can still feel you_

He was obviously having as much trouble with the song as Axca was, his voice breaking as he sung with difficulty.

 _Why would you leave us? Why would you leave us here?_

 _How could you leave us here?_

 _How would you leave us? Why would you leave us?_

 _Oh, Hey_

He angrily sung the next verse, his demeanor completely changing from how it had been before.

 _I got this picture in my room and it kills me_

 _But I don't need a picture of my mom, I need the real thing_

 _Now a relationship is something we won't ever have_

 _Why do I feel like I lost something that I never had?_

 _You shoulda been there when I graduated_

 _Told me you love me and congratulations_

 _Instead you left us at the window waiting_

 _Where you at mom? We're too young to understand where you at huh?_

 _Yeah, I know those drugs got you held captive_

 _I can see it in your eyes, they got your mind captured_

 _Some say it's fun to get the high but I am not laughing_

 _What you don't realize and what you not grasping_

 _That I was nothing but a kid who couldn't understand_

 _I ain't gon' say that I forgive you cause it hasn't happened_

 _I thought that maybe I feel better as time passes_

 _If you really cared for me, then where you at then?_

He paused, his voice cutting off on the last note in anguish, but he continued diligently. He became so engrossed, he missed the soft sobs that escaped from Axca. His sister who, like him, often hid her emotions under layers of sarcasm and anger.

 _Why would you leave us? Why would you leave us?_

 _How could you leave us here?_

 _How would you leave us? Why would you leave us_

 _Hey_

He ignored the cool drops of tears, falling onto his knuckles and the piano keys, choosing instead to pour his anger into his voice instead of the pain.

 _Our last conversation, you and I sat in the living room_

 _Talking 'bout my music and I brought you something to listen to_

 _You started crying, telling me this isn't you_

 _Couple weeks later, guess you were singing a different tune_

 _You took them pills for the last time, didn't you?_

 _They took you from us once, guess they came back to finish you_

 _Crying my eyes out at school is difficult_

 _Music is the only place that I can go to speak to you_

 _It took everything inside of me to not scream at your funeral_

 _Sitting in my chair, that person talking was pitiful_

 _I wish you were here mama but every time I picture you_

 _All I feel is pain, I hate the way I remember you_

 _They found you on the floor, I could tell that you felt hollow_

 _Gave everything you had plus your life to them pill bottles_

 _You gave everything you had plus your life to them pill bottles_

 _Don't know if you hear me or not, but if you still watching why_

His voice continued to waver over the last lines of the song until his voice became so broken, he didn't even seem to be singing anymore, but just speaking to someone who was beyond help.

 _Why would you leave us? Why would you leave us?_

 _How could you leave us here?_

 _How would you leave us? Why would you leave us?_

 _Hey_

 _"Sometimes I think about, like, sometimes I think about things like, you know, when I have kids, I'm like,"_ He choked on his words, pausing before starting again.

 _"You won't be there, you know? You won't be there for any of that. And I'll never get to see you again. Sometimes I wish I would have just called you. I wish I would have just picked up the phone. I wish you were here. You shoulda' been there for us. You shoulda' been here. Pills got you, right? Them pills got you, right? I wish you were here."_

He finished the song and Axca stumbled over to the piano, crashing into him and hugging him as if her life depended on it, sobbing her eyes out. She clung to him and he hugged her back, nuzzling into her shoulder to hide his own tears. Hunk leaped toward them, tears in his eyes as well. He hugged the two, picking them both up off the bench and squeezing them tightly. "That was so sad. I can't begin to imagine how difficult that must have been," Hunk said between sobs, earning chuckles from the twins. The other three joined them in a big group hug, which eventually led to a tickle fight, in which everyone lost.

"Dude, I'm not going to be able to top that. Can I just tap out?" Pidge asked and everyone still in the game cheered a big yes at their defeat. "Imma tap out as well," Hunk added to the joy of Keith and Lance.

"Time for a celebratory song, since half of the competitors just resigned," Lance said, grabbing his guitar and immediately starting on a peppy tune. "This one's called I Like It because I do, in fact, like it. Losers," Lance taunted, earning another kick in the shin.

 _Now I like dollars, I like diamonds_

 _I like stunting, I like shining_

 _I like million dollar deals_

 _Where's my pen? Bitch I'm signin'_

 _I like those Balenciagas, the ones that look like socks_

 _I like going to the jeweler, I put rocks all in my watch_

 _I like texts from my exes when they want a second chance_

 _I like proving niggas wrong, I do what they say I can't_

 _They call my girl Cardi Bardi, banging body_

 _Spicy mami, hot tamale_

 _Hotter than a Somali, fur coat, Ferrari_

 _Hop out the stu', jump in the coupe_

 _Big Dipper on top of the roof_

 _Flexing on bitches as hard as I can_

 _Eating halal, driving the Lam'_

 _Told that bitch I'm sorry though_

 _'Bout my coins like Mario_

 _Yeah they call her Cardi B, I run this shit like cardio_

 _Oh, facts_

 _Diamond district in the Jag'_

 _I said I like it like that_

 _Certified, you know I'm gang_

 _I said I like it like_

 _Drop the top and blow the brains_

 _I said I like it like that_

 _Oh he's so handsome, what's his name?_

 _I said I like it_

 _Oh I need the dollars_

 _I said I like it like that_

 _Beat it up like piñatas_

 _I said I like it like_

 _Tell the driver, close the curtains_

 _I said I like it like that_

 _Bad bitch make him nervous_

 _I said I like it_

 _Do it, babe_

Hunk and Pidge hummed along to the song, knowing it pretty well from Lance playing it constantly, trying to perfect it.

 _Diamond district in the Jag'_

 _I said I like it like that_

 _Certified, you know I'm gang, gang, gang, gang_

 _I said I like it like_

 _Drop the top and blow the brains_

 _I said I like it like that_

 _Oh he's so handsome, what's his name?_

 _I said I like it_

 _Oh I need the dollars_

 _I said I like it like that_

 _Beat it up like piñatas_

 _I said I like it like_

 _Tell the driver, close the curtains_

 _I said I like it like that_

 _Bad bitch make him nervous_

 _I said I like it_

 _Do it, babe_

Lance started singing faster in the next verse. The others were unable to discern what he was saying, having not known Spanish, let alone well enough to tell what words are what when they were being sung so quickly.

 _Chambean, chambean, pero no jalan_

 _Tú compras to'a las Jordan, bobo, a mí me las regalan_

 _I spend in the club, what you have in the bank_

 _This is the new religion, bang, en latino gang, gang, yeh_

 _Trato de hacer dieta_

 _Pero es que en el closet tengo mucha grasa_

 _Ya mude la Gucci pa' dentro de casa_

 _Cabrón, a ti no te conocen ni en Plaza_

 _El Diablo me llama pero Jesucristo me abraza_

 _Guerrero como Eddie, que viva la raza_

 _Me gustan boricuas, me gustan cubanas_

 _Me gusta el acento de las colombianas_

 _¿Qué hubo pues?_

 _Cómo mueve el culo la dominicana_

 _¿Qué lo que?_

 _Lo rico que me chingan las venezolanas_

 _Andamos activos, Perico Pin Pin_

 _Billetes de cien en el maletín_

 _Que retumbe el bajo, Bobby Valentin_

 _Aquí es prohibido amar, diles Charytín_

 _Que pa'l picor les tengo Claritin_

 _Yo llego a la disco y se forma el motín_

The others cheered, without a single clue as to what he was saying, but impressed that he could speak so fast in a language they were unfamiliar with.

 _Diamond district in the Jag'_

 _I said I like it like that_

 _Certified, you know I'm gang_

 _I said I like it like_

 _Drop the top and blow the brains_

 _I said I like it like that_

 _Oh he's so handsome, what's his name?_

 _I said I like it_

 _Oh I need the dollars_

 _I said I like it like that_

 _Beat it up like piñatas_

 _I said I like it like_

 _Tell the driver, close the curtains_

 _I said I like it like that_

 _Bad bitch make him nervous_

 _I said I like it_

He started singing in Spanish and smiled as Pidge made a terrible attempt at trying to keep up.

 _Como Celia Cruz tengo el azúcar_

 _Tu jeva me vio y se fue de pecho como Jimmy Snuka_

 _Te vamos a tumbar la peluca_

 _Y arranca pa'l carajo cabrón_

 _Que a ti no te vo'a pasar la hookah_

 _Mis tenis Balenciaga, me reciben en la entrada_

 _Pa-pa-pa-pa-razzi, like I'm Lady Gaga_

 _Y no te me hagas_

 _Que en cover de Billboard tú has visto mi cara_

 _No salgo de tu mente_

 _Donde quieras que viajes has escuchado "Mi Gente"_

 _Yo no soy high (high), soy como el Testarossa_

 _Soy el que se la vive y también el que la goza_

 _Es la cosa, mami es la cosa_

 _El que mira sufre y el que toca goza_

They cheered again, still impressed by the little things.

 _I said I like it like that_

 _I said I like it like that_

 _I said I like it like that_

 _I said I like it like that_

 _Diamond district in the Jag_

 _I said I like it like that_

 _Certified, you know I'm gang_

 _I said I like it like_

 _Drop the top and blow the brains_

 _I said I like it like that_

 _Oh he's so handsome, what's his name?_

 _I said I like it_

Everyone cheered in approval, giving him thumbs up or pats on the back (or in Hunk's case a giant bear hug).

"Your turn, Keith," Lance smirked. Keith returned the gesture, grabbing his guitar as his sister continued to cling to him. "Warning, this song's a little creepy. It's called Tag, You're It. " Pidge played an alien sound on her synthesizer in joking response, earning a couple laughs from the group.

Keith strummed his guitar before singing the first lines and receiving a few grimaces from the others, who were already effectively creeped out by the song.

L _ooking at me through your window_

 _Boy, you had your eye out for a little_

 _"I'll cut you up and make you dinner_

 _You've reached the end, you are the winner"_

 _Rolling down your tinted window_

 _Driving next to me real slow, he said_

 _"Let me take you for a joyride_

 _I've got some candy for you inside"_

The beat picked up from here and Keith even shivered at the implications of the song. He remembered as a kid being deathly afraid of strangers, thinking of every time his mother had told her kids about the dangers that lie beyond their bedroom windows. He was still afraid of something like that happening to him.

 _Running through the parking lot_

 _He chased me and he wouldn't stop_

 _Tag, you're it, tag, tag, you're it_

 _Grabbed my hand, pushed me down_

 _Took the words right out my mouth_

 _Tag, you're it, tag, tag, you're it_

 _Can anybody hear me I'm hidden under ground_

 _Can anybody hear me am I talking to myself_

 _Saying, "tag, you're it, tag, tag, you're it"_

 _He's saying, "tag, you're it, tag, tag, you're it"_

His voice became husky as he sung the next verse, a small amount of fear leaking into his voice.

 _Little bit of poison in me_

 _I can taste your skin in my teeth_

 _"I love it when I hear you breathing_

 _I hope to god you're never leaving"_

He paused for effect before continuing into the chorus, his voice becoming soft and high in pitch.

 _Running through the parking lot_

 _He chased me and he wouldn't stop_

 _Tag, you're it, tag, tag, you're it_

 _Grabbed my hand, pushed me down_

 _Took the words right out my mouthf_

 _Tag, you're it, tag, tag, you're it_

 _Can anybody hear me I'm hidden under ground_

 _Can anybody hear me am I talking to myself_

 _Saying, "tag, you're it, tag, tag, you're it"_

 _He's saying, "tag, you're it, tag, tag, you're it"_

His voice became tinny in a way that made the song all the more creepy.

 _Eenie meenie miny mo_

 _Get somebody by their toes_

 _If they screams, don't let 'em go_

 _Eenie meenie miny mo_

 _Your mother said to pick the very best, boy_

 _And I am_

The beat picked up once again and Keith let more of that fear push into his voice as he sang

Running through the parking lot

 _He chased me and he wouldn't stop_

 _Tag, you're it, tag, tag, you're it_

 _Grabbed my hand, pushed me down_

 _Took the words right out my mouth_

 _Tag, you're it, tag, tag, you're it_

 _Running through the parking lot_

 _He chased me and he wouldn't stop_

 _Tag, you're it, tag, you're it_

 _Grabbed my hand, pushed me down_

 _Took the words right out my mouth_

 _Tag, you're it, tag, tag, you're it_

He started playing in a way that sounded warped, like a broken music box. The group sat in silence, thoroughly creeped out.

"Man, that's fucking creepy. Please don't tell me that one's from personal experience too," Pidge said. Keith shook his head. "No, it more based on my paranoia. Since I was a kid I was paranoid about that kind of thing."

"Yeah," Axca piped up. "I remember all the times you called mom to take us home from school because you thought someone was stalking you." Keith sniffed at that, genuinely offended that she wasn't taking him seriously. "I thought I saw someone," He mumbled dejectedly, earning a laugh from the rest of the group.

"You were hallucinating, dear brother of mine. 'Admit your faults to one another and pray to each other so that you may be healed.'" She quoted. She'd become obsessed with religion a few years ago and with her perfect memory, she'd memorized a lot of verses from different religious books, her favorite being the bible. Keith didn't quite agree with her views of the world though. "Sh-shut your stupid mouth," Keith stuttered, pouting in utter defeat. "I'm pretty sure praying about it isn't gonna do shit to make it go away," He muttered.

"Can I play my song, now?" Lance asked excitedly, receiving the thumbs up from Keith.

"'Kay. I'm gonna play a song called _Youth_. "

He started strumming as he sung the first lines. He sung softly, blending his voice and the sound of his guitar beautifully.

 _Shadows settle on the place that you left_

 _Our minds are troubled by the emptiness_

 _Destroy the middle, it's a waste of time_

 _From the perfect start to the finish line_

He slowed down during the next verse, singing more powerfully.

 _And if you're still breathing, you're the lucky ones_

 _'Cause most of us are heaving through corrupted lungs_

 _Setting fire to our insides for fun_

 _Collecting names of the lovers that went wrong_

 _The lovers that went wrong_

Lance played a short solo on his guitar before starting on the next verse.

 _We are the reckless, we are the wild youth_

 _Chasing visions of our futures_

 _One day, we'll reveal the truth_

 _That one will die before he gets there_

He thrummed slowly and distantly with his guitar, singing with a smile.

 _And if you're still bleeding, you're the lucky ones_

 _'Cause most of our feelings, they are dead and they are gone_

 _We're setting fire to our insides for fun_

 _Collecting pictures from a flood that wrecked our home_

 _It was a flood that wrecked this home_

 _And you caused it_

 _And you caused it_

 _And you caused it_

He played his guitar, effectively demonstrating his skill on guitar.

 _Well, I've lost it all, I'm just a silhouette_

 _I'm a lifeless face that you'll soon forget_

 _And my eyes are damp from the words you left_

 _Ringing in my head, when you broke my chest_

 _Ringing in my head, when you broke my chest_  
 _The beat slowed down as Lance continued singing._

 _And if you're in love, then you are the lucky one_

 _'Cause most of us are bitter over someone_

 _Setting fire to our insides for fun_

 _To distract our hearts from ever missing them_

 _But I'm forever missing him_

 _And you caused it_

 _And you caused it_

 _And you caused it_

The group cheered for Lance, who smiled and pulled Pidge into a hug, who struggled as if their life depended on it. Hunk checked his watch. "Guys, we have time left for about 2 songs. Then we gotta leave."

"Well, then lets hurry this up then," Keith said, raising up his guitar and playing a hardcore rock guitar chord.

 _The secret side of me, I never let you see_

 _I keep it caged but I can't control it_

 _So stay away from me, the beast is ugly_

 _I feel the rage and I just can't hold it_

 _It's scratching on the walls, in the closet, in the halls_

 _It comes awake and I can't control it_

 _Hiding under the bed, in my body, in my head_

 _Why won't somebody come and save me from this?_

 _Make it end_

He stood and started rocking out on his guitar, giving the performance of a lifetime in Lance's living room. He yelled the lyrics enthusiastically and the others (excluding Lance, Allura, and Axca, who'd become glued to her phone once again) tried to sing along as best the could.

 _I feel it deep within, it's just beneath the skin_

 _I must confess that I feel like a monster_

 _I hate what I've become, the nightmare's just begun_

 _I must confess that I feel like a monster_

 _I, I feel like a monster_

 _I, I feel like a monster_

He calmed his volume down, slowly gaining volume through the verse.

 _My secret side I keep hid under lock and key_

 _I keep it caged but I can't control it_

 _'Cause if I let him out he'll tear me up, break me down_

 _Why won't somebody come and save me from this, make it end?_

He started rocking out again, pulling out all the stops to make sure that he not only played more than Lance, but played better than him, smirking as if he'd already won.

 _I feel it deep within, it's just beneath the skin_

 _I must confess that I feel like a monster_

 _I hate what I've become, the nightmare's just begun_

 _I must confess that I feel like a monster_

 _I feel it deep within, it's just beneath the skin_

 _I must confess that I feel like a monster_

 _I, I feel like a monster_

 _I, I feel like a monster_

He started singing a few notes lower and more monotone than he had been before, but just as powerfully.

 _It's hiding in the dark, it's teeth are razor sharp_

 _There's no escape for me, it wants my soul, it wants my heart_

 _No one can hear me scream, maybe it's just a dream_

 _Maybe it's inside of me, stop this monste_ _r_

He toned down on his guitar during the next verse, lowering his voice as low as he could on the last half of the second line effectively making his voice sound almost demonic.

 _I feel it deep within, it's just beneath the skin_

 _I must confess that I feel like a monster_

He started up on guitar, rocking out and belting out the lyrics in perfect harmony with his guitar.

 _I hate what I've become, the nightmare's just begun_

 _I must confess that I feel like a monster_

 _I feel it deep within, it's just beneath the skin_

 _I must confess that I feel like a monster_

 _I've gotta lose control, here's something radical_

 _I must confess that I feel like a monster_

 _I, I feel like a monster_

 _I, I feel like a monster_

 _I, I feel like a monster_

 _I, I feel like a monster_

He slung his guitar over his shoulder, practically oozing confidence as he smirked at Lance, who quickly rose in challenge.

"Okay, this one's _A Sadness Runs Through Him,"_ Lance said, adjusting his guitar strap and played the upbeat, opening chords to the song at 170 bpm.

 _People are puppets held together with string_

 _There's a beautiful sadness that runs through him_

 _As he asked me to pray to the God he doesn't believe in_

Lance sung enchantingly with bittersweet tinges. He sung a very beautiful tenor, surprising the twins, but being completely expected by the others. Lance tended to prefer singing in higher pitch than most men who sang in choir whom they knew and he did it perfectly and with flair.

 _Time and again boys are raised to be men_

 _Impatient they start, fearful they end_

 _But here was a man mourning tomorrow_

 _He drank, but finally drowned in his sorrow_

Lance started singing an even higher falsetto practically every other syllable. Hunk hooted in approval, having no such vocal skill.

 _Oh, he could not break surface tension_

 _He looked in the wrong place for redemption_

 _Don't look at me with those eyes_

 _I tried to unheave the ties_

 _Turn back the time that drew him_

 _But he couldn't be saved_

 _A sadness runs through him_

 _Through him_

Keith started playing his own guitar softly in the background, going completely unnoticed by Lance, who continued nonetheless.

 _Time and again boys are raised to be men_

 _Inpatient they start, fearful they end_

 _But here was a man mourning tomorrow_

 _He drank, but finally drowned in his sorrow_

 _Oh, he could not break surface tension_

 _He looked in the wrong place for redemption_

 _Don't look at me with those eyes_

 _I tried to unheave the ties_

 _Turn back the time that drew him_

 _But he couldn't be saved_

 _A sadness runs through him_

 _Through him_

He changed his pattern on the guitar and Keith hummed along, harmonizing with him.

 _Don't look_

 _Don't look_

 _Don't, don't_

 _Don't look at me with those eyes_

 _I tried to unheave the ties_

 _Turn back the time that drew him_

 _But he couldn't be saved_

 _No, he couldn't be saved_

 _A sadness runs through him_

 _A sadness runs through him_

 _A sadness runs through him_

 _A sadness runs through him_

 _A sadness runs through him_

 _A sadness runs through him_

He finished the song, receiving applause all around. "Hey, guys. We gotta leave now if we don't want to be late," Hunk reminded him. The group made random noises of acknowledgement and everyone started packing up their stuff.

"Let's have some fun tonight!" Lance cheered, receiving answers of 'yeah!' and one 'hear!' from Pidge.

End A/N Notes:

I was going to do Lemon Boy instead of Already Gone, but decided against it. So you can check out the bit that I actually wrote for that song here: IsabellaAtch  
You guys should actually listen to this band called Pristine Strings. I heard them play once and they were pretty amazing, so I bought one of their mixtapes. Check them out here: channel/UCxn0qCB29c3EvzOgx8D7lZg  
Also for the last song, I asked my dad to pick a shape representing 4 songs (then I chose a completely different song) and he chose the diamond (can you guess which of these shapes belong to which songs: , ◼️, ️, △; Lemon Boy - Cavetown, Ancient History - Set It Off, Already Gone - Sleeping At Last, and Panic Room - Au/Ra)  
Killer In the Mirror - Set It Off  
The Devil Went Down To Georgia - Charlie Daniels Band  
Lone Digger - Caravan Palace (with some Nightcore influences)  
Everybody Gets High - MISSIO  
Even If It's A Lie - Matt Maltesse  
How Could You Leave Us - NF  
I Like It - Cardi B, Bad Bunny, and J Balvin (Slight lyric changes)  
Tag You're It - Melanie Martinez  
Youth - Daughter, Monster - Skillet  
A Sadness Runs Through Him - The Hoosiers


	6. You're In Ruins

The group stood in a circle around Shiro, who'd called them in early on the Monday (much to their dismay) a week after their little performance. It was also the first of a new month and nobody was happy about that. "So there's a talent contest coming up and I think you guys should perform," Shiro said, hands on his hips and confidence practically bursting. "The band that wins gets to perform during halftime at the biggest game of the year, where a couple record scouts will be watching." Everyone's eyes practically burst out of their skulls.

"Holy crap. Of course we'll go! That sounds like an amazing opportunity, right guys?" Lance said. Everyone else nodded in assent.

"Thing is, the show is in two weeks and you have to have something picked out by the end of this week," Shiro cut in. The group groaned, but Lance seemed to be a never-ending spout of enthusiasm. "We can do this, guys. It can't be that hard to pick a song. We'll just need to pool in all our effort and music. I'm sure we'll be able to come up with something by the end of the week."

Shiro nodded. "I know you guys can do it."

* * *

Keith slumped against the side of the stage, his head on top of a pile of papers. The others were in no better condition. Allura laid on the floor staring blearily at a piece of paper, looking as if she'd never read before. Lance was slumped in a chair, covered in paper from head to toe. Hunk was asleep on the ground, the paper over his face floating up as he snored. Pidge was staring at a couple pieces of paper strewn over their keyboard and playing the same note over and over every time they flipped a page. Lance suddenly stood up, waving paper off him and threw his arms in the air. "I give up."

Keith rolled his eyes. "Dude, it's only been half an hour." Lance waved his arms around wildly. "I can't stay still for more than that. I need to _do_ something before I go crazy. No offense." Keith rolled his eyes again. "Just go walk around the halls for a couple minutes or something."

"Can't we just write a new song or something?" Lance asked. "Could we actually finish a song like that in a week?" Pidge asked. Lance shrugged. "Worth a shot."

Keith shook his head. "Well you can do that. I haven't really been able to write shit lately, so I probably won't be any help."

"Cool." Lance toed the papers into a small pile. "Everybody okay with meeting up after school to practice?" Everyone gave an affirmative, aside from Keith who had something to do after school involving his step-dad and step-mom.

"Wait so are your step-mom and step-dad married?" Lance asked in confusion. "No, they're just dating. After my mom killed herself, my dad remarried my step-mom, Krolia. She's really nice, but she has shit taste in men. My step-dad is really just her boyfriend. She's been dating shitty guy after shitty guy and drinking all the time since dad died," Keith explained. "Which is why I choose to live with my foster parents. It's kind of temporary though. They're probably going to kick me out soon anyways and I'll have to live with my step-parents again. Although I still have to go and visit them every so often."

"Sounds pretty shitty. Pun intended," Pidge yelled from her spot onstage. Keith shrugged. "Pretty much."

He seemed much more tired than usual, black circles under his eyes as if he hadn't slept in weeks. The bell rang, causing the raven-haired boy to jump in fright as if a bomb had just gone off beneath his feet. "Chill out, Keith. We'd better get to fifth period before we're late." Pidge gathered up her stuff.

"Guess I'll see you in seventh, Lance," Keith said, gathering up his stuff much to the surprised looks of everyone but Lance, who apparently didn't know the two had any classes together.

* * *

"Just sit over there and have Keith describe these to you," Ms. Hira said flippantly, handing Lance a stack of pictures of random things. They didn't seem to have a particular theme. They all seemed rather random. One was a picture of a lobster lounging in a bed of sand, one was a picture of a fence post, another was of a little girl holding a green balloon.

Lance walked over to a small desk in the corner of the room with Keith and they started going over the pictures, Keith describing each one as having things that weren't there. Little things. Like the lobster being the color red, a green apple being red, and a cat sitting on the fence post in one of the pictures. Keith started to become more and more frustrated as Lance told him his mistakes. All of this frustration seemed to come to a tipping point at the last picture, which just showed a hospital room.

"There's nothing there," Keith snatched the picture turning it over, looking for where the actual picture might be. "So you don't see anything?" Keith shook his head.

Ms. Hira peeked from behind her computer. "Have you been taking your medicine, Keith?" Keith looked a little shocked at the accusation. "Y-yeah. Of course I have," Keith answered defensively. Ms. Hira sniffed. "Well, then I'm going to have to ask your therapist to look into getting you a higher dosage, since you seem to be getting worse even on your medicine," She picked up her phone, before Keith let out a panicked squeak. "You can't do that!" He seemed to notice the abruptness and anxiousness of his little outburst. "I mean, my family can barely afford what I'm getting now and dad'll be really angry if he has to get a new prescription. He's been really pissed off lately and I don't want to make to worse. Besides, I'll survive on the dosage I'm on now." Ms. Hira's face seemed to soften slightly, but she still didn't put the phone down. "You may want to ask him about getting benefits. Or better healthcare. I'm sure your step-father would be much more pissed off if you ended up getting suspended for one of your little outbursts because you didn't get that dosage upped."

Keith scowled, but made no more objections.

"Now if you're done throwing a fit, go ahead and get on a computer so you can finish your test," She said, pointing at the computer cart against the wall. Keith sighed, grabbing a laptop and logging on.

"Once you're finished, you can go ahead and go home early." Keith didn't answer, merely clicking the touchpad every so often as he slowly finished the online test.

* * *

Keith tapped a rhythm out an the dashboard as Lance drove into a trailer park off the side of a highway. Lance sighed as he pulled up next to one of the trailers. The one that Keith and his sister apparently lived in with their step parents. The thing didn't look like it could hold two people, let alone four.

"See you tomorrow," Keith said before getting out of the van. He clambered up the steps of the trailer opening it to see his step-father in a zombie-like haze on the couch. He scowled at the man before going off into the small kitchen where Krolia was. The whole family knew what a drug addict he was, but nobody chose to do anything about it.

When Krolia saw Keith, she moved away from the sink, knowing better by now than to stop the raven-haired boy from helping out. She got out some frozen meals for dinner (only three, so he assumed Acxa was going to be out again) and put them in the microwave one at a time.

"I don't know what Ran is on, but he's been out of it all day. It's kind of a relief," Krolia sighed, the stress easily showing on her face as she pulled out a bottle of vodka out of the fridge as well. For a moment Keith briefly felt guilty, but he quickly reminded himself that it wasn't his fault. It wasn't his fault his mother dated assholes. It wasn't his fault that one of those assholes stole his goddamn pills so he could get high. It definitely wasn't his fault that said asshole had beaten the crap out of him when he'd tried to stop him. He managed to not get any punches to the face, but he could definitely still feel the bruises on his back. It wasn't his fault that his father had died, giving way to these monsters living in his old home.

It still felt like his fault though.

"Hopefully he doesn't come off it any time soon," Keith mumbled, earning a playful swat from Krolia.

He noticed the bottle of dish soap was empty, so he tossed it into the cardboard box on the counter where all the trash went. He proceeded to search under the sink for another bottle of soap, coming up with a couple bottles of cleansing spray and a shoe box placed in the back of the cabinet.

While Krolia was busy getting the frozen dinner out, he pulled the box forward and opened it. His eyes widened at seeing what was in the box, immediately assuming that the object was Ran's since he knew for a fact it didn't belong to his step-mom. He slid it into the pocket of his baggy jacket and put the empty box where he'd found it, hoping to God Krolia didn't notice before slipping out to the room he and his sister shared.

He pulled the object out of his jacket and slid it into a giant slit in the mattress, which had bits of cotton and wire sticking out. He'd cut it open a while ago to hide random stuff which had never been noticed, so he hoped nobody would come snooping now. But the more he thought about it, the more paranoid he got. He decided that in the morning it would be put somewhere else just in case.

But he definitely didn't want to leave a gun in the hands of his step-father.

* * *

"You brought a fucking gun to school?!" Acxa stage whispered, staring at Keith like he was crazy. Well, she wasn't wrong there. She was also slightly concerned by his apparel, being a long black jacket that looked like the sort of thing a school shooter would wear. Further pushing her point that this boy should not be walking around with a gun and even further scaring the shit out of her.

Hell, he was her brother. She knew him better than anybody else on this plane of existence knew him. And while she liked to think her brother wouldn't do something stupid like shoot up the school, she'd found him to be very unpredictable. Especially after their father died. First had been the small fire he'd set in the boiler room of their elementary school, then it had been beating the crap out of anyone who dared to even speak to him, and the last straw had been running out in the middle of the street after seeing an apparition of a person he had claimed to never have cared about. She knew that a Keith off his medication was not a Keith you really wanted to mess with. Of course she knew about what their step-father did. She may not visit a lot, but their step-mom always calls.

Plus he was already doing one stupid thing, who was to say he wouldn't go the full nine yards? Keith shushed her, despite the halls being empty aside from them. "I'm just keeping it on me until I find a place to get rid of it," Keith defended. "You shouldn't have it on you in the first place!" She threw her hands in the air in exasperation. "What are you going to do if they do one of those random searches again? Huh? Can't hide a gun from a bullet-sniffing hound!" Keith sighed with equal exasperation. "I'll just drop it in some other kid's backpack before they herd us out of class." He shrugged. "Plus they rarely do that kind of thing. And there was one last week, so it's extremely unlikely to happen again in the near future."

Acxa stared at him in bewilderment. "How much have you thought about this?" Keith shrugged again. "Not enough, I think. I mean, I still haven't found a place to put the damn thing." Acxa rolled her eyes. "No matter how much I don't trust Ranveig to have a gun on him, I don't think I really trust you much more than I do him." Keith laughed at that. "No offense," She added, not really seeming to mean it.

"Don't worry. It's not like I'm going to shoot anybody. Probably," He answered in a joking tone, obviously not making Acxa any less on edge. He sighed. "I'll get rid of it, Acxa. Just trust me. I'm the one that still has to live with that asshole every other week. And Krolia is still living with him too. I just don't want anyone to get hurt."

Acxa gave an exasperated sigh. "Fine, but make sure it's gone by the end of the day. I know you don't want to hurt anybody, but I know you have a habit of doing it anyways." Keith gave a sheepish smile. _Well at least he's aware of it._ Acxa gave a firm nod. "Now shoo. I don't want to be seen with your creepy ass," She waved her hand. "Whatever. You love me," Keith gave her a cheeky smile. "Yeah, I do. Now get out of here. We've still got class." She laughed, walking away from her twin, who also decided it was a great time to leave.

* * *

Lance hummed, strumming his guitar, his feet swinging forward and backward and hitting the side of the stage. He had a basic rhythm down and a chorus, but he didn't have much of an actual song. He was a little agitated by the fact that Keith wasn't there today. He had been in class earlier, but he seemed to be avoiding everyone in the band for some odd reason.

 _Far beyond_

 _The universe_

 _We find_

 _Our minds_

 _Inside ourselves_

It wasn't much of a chorus, but it was something. He groaned, thinking of how much work this was going to take and how little time they had.

He heard the sound of the concert hall doors opening and looked up to see Nyma leaning against one of the doors. "Oh, hey babe," He called across the concert hall, receiving a beckoning finger from the blonde. He set aside his guitar and ran up to meet her. She gave him a side hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Hey, babe. We need to talk." She led him outside, making him a little nervous, thinking she was about to break up with him. Outside he saw two of her friends, Rolo and Beezer, outside and leaning against the wall. She took his hand and they started walking down the halls, Beezer and Rolo following close behind.

"So there's a talent show coming up and I want you to join our band for it!" Nyma exclaimed, excitement in her voice as she clung to his arm. "See, Rolo plays drums and Beezer plays keyboard and I sing. So we needed a guitar player and I thought, 'Hey, I've got a boyfriend who is amazing on guitar! I'm sure he'd be happy to help us out.'" Lance looked a little bewildered by the sudden announcement.

"But I-"

"Tut, tut. Before you say anything, consider that your band already has another guitarist, so they'll be able to do fine without you. And if they fail without you, it's really their fault. They shouldn't rely so heavily on you. I know how hard you've been working on that song for your band, but you shouldn't have to! They're stealing all your talent for themselves, babe. And you're definitely not getting the opportunities you deserve with them. Daddy works for a record label, I'm sure if you join us, he can put in a good word for you. And our band has real talent, unlike those burnouts! We can get you to the places you want to go and you won't have to stress so much, babe." Lance obviously looked conflicted at this point and Nyma smiled in triumph before that smile turned into a frown as Lance shook his head.

"Nyma, I can't. I can't do that. Those are my friends. I have a commitment to them and if you can't understand that, then I can't go out with you."

Nyma slapped him hard. She turned away from him and grouped up with her posse. "No. You don't break up with me. And you will do as I say. Even at the cost of those skanks," She replied angrily. "I'm the one in charge of here, Lance. Unless you'd like to be a social outcast like that- that psycho chi-chi!" She practically screamed at him, stomping her foot and marching toward him aggressively to poke him in the chest.

"I-"

"And, since music seems to be the only language you speak, with the help of some real artists, I've written a song to tell you exactly what I think of you," Nyma said, with an aggressive glower. Beezer started playing a recording on his phone as Nyma stepped closer to him, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him close and singing the first lyrics of the song.

 _Are we gonna have a problem?_

 _You got a bone to pick?_

 _You've come so far_

 _Why now are you pulling on my dick?_

 _I'd normally slap your face off_

 _And everyone here could watch_

 _But I'm feeling nice_

 _Here's some advice_

 _Listen up, biotch!_

The trio sung the two words venomously.

 _I like!_

Beezer and Rolo suddenly stopped singing, while Nyma continued.

 _Lookin' hot_

 _Buying stuff they cannot_

Rolo and Beezer sung backup to Nyma and came closer, dragging him by his sleeves and backing Lance against a wall.

 _I like!_

Nyma let go of Lance's collar as Beezer and Rolo kept him pinned to the wall.

 _Drinkin' hard_

 _Maxin' dad's credit card_

Rolo and Beezer continued singing as Nyma turned, flipping her hair over her shoulder and hitting Lance in the face with said blonde hair.

 _I like!_

She took a few steps away before doubling back and the two boys let go of Lance.

 _Skippin' gym_

 _Scarin' her_

 _Screwin' him_

Nyma grabbed him by the collar roughly and pecked him on the lips before grabbing his wrist and pulling him along behind her toward the cafeteria. Rolo and Beezer continued singing behind the two.

 _I like!_

Nyma ran a hand down her body, displaying the obviously expensive shirt and skirt she wore along with an assortment of expensive jewelery.

 _Killer Clothes_

As the three passed through the hallways, they spotted a straggler and Rolo kicked the kid in the face, like as if his head was a soccer ball. He then kicked the kid in the stomach and walked away laughing. Lance preferred to pretend like the kid hadn't been there at all, hating every second of this one-sided exchange.

 _Kickin' nerds in the nose_

Nyma's voice became taunting as she sang, but she still sounded amazing.

 _If you lack the balls_

 _You can go play dolls_

 _Let your mommy fix you a snack_

Rolo and Beezer laughed and one of them (he suspected Rolo) threw their lunch bag at him.

 _Woah!_

Nyma stopped suddenly, pulling him close with a scary look on her face. Lance gulped, taking a sandwich from the bag that had been thrown at him and took a big bite, getting it immediately snatched away by (you guessed it) Rolo as they approached the staircase leading to the cafeteria.

 _Or you could come smoke_

 _Pound some rum and coke_

 _In my porsche with the quarterback_

Nyma let go of his collar and grouped up with Rolo and Beezer at the head of the stairs, each of them walking upstairs to the beat of the song. And even better, they did it backwards, watching Lance the entire time they ascended the stairs.

 _Woah! Woah! Woah!_

 _Honey, whatchu waitin' for?_

 _Welcome to my candy store_

 _It's time for you to prove_

 _You're not a loser anymore_

 _Then step into my candy store_

Nyma ran down the stairs again in her tall heels and pulled Lance up the stairs with her as they continued to sing, though far below Rolo and Beezer.

 _Guys fall_

Nyma turned and walked ahead of him, still holding his hand in hers. Rolo stopped ahead on the stairs, standing to the right of the stairway.

 _At your feet_

 _Pay the check_

Nyma and Lance caught up to Rolo, who leaned toward Lance and with an evil smile sung his line. Beezer himself stopped at the left of the stairway now.

 _Help you cheat_

The three sung together as Rolo and Nyma approached Beezer, leaving Lance behind a couple steps down.

 _All you_

The two finally caught up to Beezer as he sung his line

Have to do

Nyma twirled her finger through her hair while crossing her eyes and sticking out her tongue, twirling and letting her skirt fly a little above where a teacher would have preferred it to be, but a horny teenage boy would loved to have seen (not that Lance was one of those, considering he felt a little nauseous at the moment).

Say goodbye to cuckoo

Rolo, Nyma, and Beezer sung together, once again climbing the stairs, but with more hip-swaying now. Lance got the feeling that this entire ordeal had been completely planned.

 _That freak's_

Rolo sung by himself, his voice naturally taunting as he jumped down the stairs and got a little too far into Lance's personal space.

 _Not your friend_

 _I can tell in the end_

The two who were further up the stairs sung loudly and aggressively.

 _If he_

Beezer piped up again, moving between Nyma and Rolo.

 _Had your shot_

The trio were perfectly aligned on the stairs making a tilted, vertical line.

 _He would leave you to rot_

Rolo got up in Lance's space again, his facial expression easily visible.

 _'Course if you don't care_

 _Fine! Go braid his hair_

 _Maybe Sesame Street is on_

Beezer and Nyma added their own short vocals for a single word (if you could call it that).

 _Woah!_

Rolo leaned back, giving Lance room to breath, but making Lance uneasy still with the malicious look on his face.

 _Or forget the creep_

Beezer held up his car keys as he sung.

 _And get in my jeep_

Nyma then grabbed Beezer's hand, starting a chain of hand-holding and Lance was pulled further up the stairs.

 _Let's go tear up someone's lawn_

The trio finally joined up at the top of the stairs, where a wide balcony lay for them to spread out and move around as much as they wanted to.

 _Woah! Woah! Woah!_

 _Honey, whatchu waitin' for?_

 _Welcome to my candy store_

 _You just gotta prove_

 _You're not a pussy anymore_

 _Then step into my candy store_

Nyma pulled Lance toward her, spinning him around.

You can join the team

The two boys stood aside with wide, vile grins on their faces.

 _Or you can bitch and moan_

Nyma then dipped Lance, effectively scaring the shit out of the tan boy, who scrambled to gain his footing again.

 _You can live the dream_

The two boys leaned to one side, putting their hands on their hips, reminding Lance of a scene from Mean Girls.

 _Or you can die alone_

Nyma continued to hold hands with Lance, dancing with him.

 _You could fly with eagles_

Rolo and Beezer approached the couple as they sang.

 _Or if you prefer_

Nyma's face suddenly turned dark and she growled the next lyric at him.

 _Keep on testing me_

The trio points at a window that looks inward to the cafeteria, where Lance curiously put his face to it.

 _Or end up like him_

Lance glanced through the window, looking around to see Keith sitting by himself in a dark corner of the cafeteria, without even the presence of his sister. Even the tables around the general area were completely empty. The raven-haired teen looked like a classic emo-nobody that ended up shooting up the school at the end of a bad movie.

 _Woah!_

Beezer stood next to the staircase and sung dramatically and with flair.

Honey, what you waiting fo-

Nyma suddenly pushed Beezer down the stairs and yelled at him before riffing a single line much better than Beezer could ever hope to.

 _Shut up, Beezer!_

 _Step into my candy store!_

Beezer climbed up the stairs with a bruise on his forehead and sung with Rolo and Nyma.

 _Time for you to prove_

 _You're not a lame-ass anymore_

 _Then step into my candy store_

 _It's my candy store_

 _It's my candy!_

 _It's my candy store_

 _It's my candy!_

 _It's my candy store_

 _It's my candy stoooreee!_

Lance tentatively grabbed the hand Nyma held out to him. She hummed in clear approval. "That's what I thought." She turns from the cafeteria with Lance still in her grip. Beezer and Rolo quickly surround the two of them semi-threateningly. "Now, we won't be having anymore problems like that again, capisce? Besides, you're my date to the prom and we've already bought tickets. Wouldn't want those to go to waste. And forget about that Peer Assistance class too. Wouldn't want you spending too much time with those lunatics. We'll use your free periods for dates now. That includes senior release and lunch, babe. No more hanging out with those pussies. If you want to play some music, you'll be playing with us," She smiled darkly. Lance nodded, despite desperately wanting to rip his hand away from her.

Where did the Lance go that would've done the right thing? The one that loved doing the right thing? He supposed he was back in that cafeteria.


	7. So You Got What You Always Wanted

"Dude, I can't! I don't think you realize what a shitfest it would be if I continued with the band right now. You play guitar, so they'll be fine without me," Lance protested. Keith frowned. He was slightly confused as to how Lance found him (although he hadn't chosen the greatest hiding place, he didn't think anyone would actually go looking for him). And he also didn't know why this was happening so suddenly (he personally thought this was the worst timing). He took a bite of his sandwich and frowned. "No, I really don't realize what a shitfest it could be. Why don't you tell me all about how fucking scary your girlfriend is," Keith answered sarcastically.

"Don't talk with your mouth full." Keith glowered at Lance. "And I know you're being sarcastic, but I'm being serious. Nobody messes with Nyma. She'd fucking slaughter me if she knew. And she'd do even worse to Pidge, Hunk, and Allura. And you." Keith nodded as if he were listening, when in fact he'd tuned Lance out by now. "Why are you even dating her anyways?" Keith chewed around another mouthful of food.

Lance sighed. "She wasn't always like this. She used to be very sweet when we started dating. And I still care for her, despite how she is. And I know she cares too. She just shows it differently." Keith rolled his eyes. "Sounds like she's a control freak."

Lance shook his head. "She just wants what she thinks is best. For both of us. She usually gets over this sort of thing at some point though. Mood swings or something like that."

"Anyways, if you wanted to," Lance said, quickly changing the topic. "You could use the little bit of song that I've been writing or just pick something you've already written." Keith shook his head. "Hey, I never said I was going to do it. And I already told you that I can't write music right now."

"Doesn't matter. You can still find some older song you've written, but I seriously need you to do this for me. I wouldn't be asking you if I weren't totally serious and sure that you could do it."

"Fine, but you owe me." Lance practically squealed in glee (he would forever deny it though). "And I'm not going to guarantee that any song I choose is even going to be good." Lance snorted. "Well, you guys can still come to my place on Fridays. You just need to get a ride from someone else. There are some things I can still hide from Nyma." Keith found Lance's smirk insufferable, so he decided it would be a great time to get up and throw his trash away so he didn't have to look at the other boy's ugly mug anymore.

"But unfortunately I won't be seeing you in seventh period anymore," Lance said, following behind Keith, who only groaned at Lance's insistence. "Why's that? Your girlfriend say you couldn't hang out with me anymore?" Lance bristled at that.

"She wants to spend more time together," Lance answered instead.

Keith turned to Lance, pushing the cafeteria doors open with his back. Lance noticed how most of the people stared at them and seemed to lean back whenever Keith came anywhere near them. He shook his head and continued after Keith.

"Sure. Because the reason she wants you to quit the band is definitely not because of me. That would be too much of a coincidence considering I've only been hanging out with you for what? Two weeks? And her not wanting you to go to seventh definitely isn't because she doesn't want you anywhere near me or anybody else in SpEd. Because that really wouldn't be embarrassing for her to explain to her friends why her boyfriend has a habit of hanging out with the crazy kids," Keith answered spitefully. He shifted his backpack on his shoulders, walking ahead of Lance, who frowned. "It's not that..." Lance muttered.

Keith rounded on him. "What is it, then? It's not that hard to figure out that everyone here hates me. I mean, why wouldn't they? They might not know the whole story, but they know enough to rightly say that I'm not someone they should befriend. So why do you and your friends keep persisting?" He looked honestly confused by the thought. "And stop following me!" Keith turned and stormed off, but Lance still followed him.

"Dude, I don't care what other people are saying about you. From what I know, you're a decent enough guy who's a great guitar-player and has the capability of being a great friend. You just don't seem to want to." Keith bristled. "I've never had real friends before, Lance. I don't know how to do this and I _really_ don't want to screw it up. But I can't. I always screw things up. So I'd really rather not try." The raven whirled on his heel and left the tan boy staring after him, rooted to the spot.

* * *

"Finally decided to join us, huh?" Pidge said sarcastically from their spot on the stage. Keith bristled, walking up to the stage and laying his guitar in front of it. "Sorry," He mumbled.

"Lance said you were going to be here earlier in the week and you didn't come," Hunk commented, referring to the fact that it was Friday and they had very little time to pick a song. "I know, but I've been busy."

Pidge rolled their eyes. "Doing what? Sitting on your ass in the cafeteria?" Keith bristled. "Writing a song for the talent show," He stated, pulling a packet of paper from his backpack. Pidge took the paper and skimmed through it.

"I'm a Kamikaze?" Pidge stared at him with a raised brow. "Not to be racist, but like-" They stopped and waved their hand at him, obviously referring to his Asian heritage. "I'm Korean, not Japanese." He rolled his eyes. "Oh." They looked over the paper again. "Well, it's a good song, I guess. It seems a little different from the type of songs you usually write though..."

"That's because Lance helped me write it," Keith stated simply. Pidge seemed a little astonished by this. "Oh, cool. But, um. Do you think we can actually win with this?" Keith smirked. "Well we're going to be going to Lance's place today and we'll work on it then. Plus a, um, friend from my old school is coming. He has a side job for a recording company right now and he's going to be transferring here next week just in time to sign up for the show. He's pretty good and he can help out." Pidge's eyes widened. "Are you sure about this? I mean, we'll be competing against him, so he might try to sabotage us." Keith shrugged.

"Not really. He's a little shit, but he doesn't pull that crap. And I don't think he's really taking it seriously anyways," Keith answered. "Anyways, I heard you finally asked Allura out," Keith grinned, leaning his elbows over the stage and pointing at the blonde girl. Pidge blushed furiously. "Y-yeah. I did." They shook their head furiously. "But that's not the point! We should have been able to practice this week, but neither of you were here. And we rely pretty heavily on you two. You're our guitar players and our best song writers. You two make playing more fun and you weren't here. I don't really give a shit what your excuse is, just don't let it happen again when we really need you. Okay?" Pidge held out a pinky to him, to which they received a 'Really?' look. Keith still linked pinkies with them. "Fine."

"Oh, yeah! We're back in business!" Hunk yelled, slamming his drumsticks onto the drums in quick succession. Pidge smiled and signed 'Guitar' at Allura, looking like she was playing an invisible guitar and the tan girl practically squealed in glee before hopping off the stage and grabbing a guitar case. She hugged it to her chest, her bright pink sweater clashing with the black of the case.

Pidge wore a matching lime-green sweater, playing a couple notes on her keyboard, giving everyone else a chance to get ready.

Keith grinned, getting his own guitar out and joining everyone onstage.

This is what he lived for.

* * *

"So you got expelled from a military school?" Keith nodded. "Yep. My step-dad insisted that it would help if I went to a military school to enforce discipline. That didn't work out so well. I got kicked out after severely wounding a Commander. Mom was really pissed about that." The rest of them stared in awe. "What did you do? Stab him in the eye?" Lance asked sarcastically, only to receive a stiff nod from the dark-haired boy. "Luckily I didn't get arrested for it or anything because it was considered self-defense."

"What did he do to you?"

"He got really pissed at me one day and tried to strangle me." Keith actually looked proud of himself, remembering how much of a nuisance he'd been. "How'd you manage to piss someone off that much?" Pidge asked with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "A combination of the fact that he was never able to prove I'd done anything and that I literally never did what was asked of me." Keith shrugged. "And after accidentally coming across some blackmail, I guess I used the information against him so much he finally snapped."

Pidge cackled at that. "What a weakling! What exactly did he do?" Keith shrugged again. "He was having an affair with one of his students. I didn't actually see anything, but I got into his computer after class trying to get an answer key to the test and I found some emails between him and this girl."

They all startled as the doorbell rang and Lance got up mumbling, "That must be James."

Soon enough he was back with another kid, who had his hair combed to the side and wore a Peppa Pig shirt, holding a guitar case at his side. The boy saluted halfheartedly and said, "Cadet Kogane. Been awhile. Can't say it's good to see you again." Keith rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Jimbo." James cringed at the usage of the dumb nickname.

"Don't be an asshole." James pulled off his backpack and set his guitar down. "Anyways, for all you people I don't know, my name's James Griffin and you shouldn't believe anything this guy says about me." He jerked his thumb at Keith. The rest of them told him their names and they all started to pull out their instruments.

Keith got out the packet of paper and handed it to James. "Nice. I've heard the songs that everyone else is playing for the show, but this is still pretty good. You'll at least be in the top five," James said a little sarcastically.

"I mean, you go to a school that's known for it's musical programs, there's going to be a bunch of people playing some amazing music. It's good, but don't expect to win with this," He commented on the piece.

"What are you planning on playing, then?" Keith asked, curiously. James rolled his eyes. "I honestly don't care, so it's only going to be an older song of mine. You know, _Boy in the Bubble_ , the one I wrote the year before last?" Keith nodded.

"I want to hear it," Hunk said nervously. He seemed to have caught on to the fact that James and Keith weren't really 'friends' as they'd called each other, but more like rivals that knew they couldn't outmatch each other and that had a silent truce in act between them. James smiled at Hunk. "Sure." He got his guitar out of his case strumming the guitar experimentally and singing rapid-fire.

 _It was 6:48, I was walking home_

 _Stepped through the gate, and I'm all alone_

 _I had chicken on the plate, but the food was cold_

 _Then I covered up my face so that no one knows_

 _I didn't want trouble, I'm the boy in the bubble_

 _But then came trouble_

 _When my mom walked into the living room_

 _She said, "Boy, you gotta tell me what they did to you"_

 _I said, "You don't wanna know the things I had to do"_

 _She said, "Son, you gotta tell me why you're black and blue"_

 _I said I didn't want trouble, I'm the boy in the bubble_

 _But then came trouble_

The guitar part got lower and he started singing more fermata than before.

 _And my heart was pumping, chest was screaming_

 _Mind was running, air was freezing_

 _Put my hands up, put my hands up_

 _I told this kid I'm ready for a fight_

He stopped for a long moment before continuing into the chorus.

 _Punch my face, do it 'cause I like the pain_

 _Every time you curse my name_

 _I know you want the satisfaction, it's not gonna happen_

 _Knock me out, kick me when I'm on the ground_

 _It's only gonna let you down_

 _Come the lightning and the thunder_

 _You're the one who'll suffer, suffer_

He started singing rapid-fire again and played a little more calmly now. The way he played was robotic.

 _Well I squared him up, left my chest exposed_

 _He threw a quick left hook and it broke my nose_

 _I had thick red blood running down my clothes_

 _And a sick, sick look 'cause I like it though_

 _I said I didn't want trouble, I'm the boy in the bubble_

 _But then came trouble_

He started singing with longer notes as he transitioned into the chorus.

 _And my heart was pumping, chest was screaming_

 _Mind was running, nose was bleeding_

 _Put my hands up, put my hands up_

 _I told this kid I'm ready for a fight_

The way he played the song seemed a little wrong, like the song itself was begging for some sort of freedom.

 _Punch my face, do it 'cause I like the pain_

 _Every time you curse my name_

 _I know you want the satisfaction, it's not gonna happen_

 _Knock me out, kick me when I'm on the ground_

 _It's only gonna let you down_

 _Come the lightning and the thunder_

 _You're the one who'll suffer_

The way he sung the next part of the song seemed a little more empathetic, switching between ideas and opinions. The same way he'd sung for Keith over a year ago. He'd taken to not playing at all during this portion.

 _It was 6:48, he was walking home_

 _With the blood on his hand from my broken nose_

 _But like every other day, he was scared to go_

 _Back to his house 'cause his pops was home_

 _Drowning his troubles in whiskey bubbles_

 _Just looking for trouble_

 _Well, there's no excuse for the things he did_

 _But there's a lot at home that he's dealing with_

 _Because his dad's been drunk since he was a kid_

 _And I hope one day that he'll say to him_

 _"Put down those bubbles and that belt buckle_

 _"In this broken bubble"_

He seemed to sing a little differently, although the robotic pattern of his fingers continued as he finished the song.

 _Punch my face, do it 'cause I like the pain_

 _Every time you curse my name_

 _I know you want the satisfaction, it's not gonna happen_

 _Knock me out, kick me when I'm on the ground_

 _It's only gonna let you down_

 _Come the lightning and the thunder_

 _You're the one who'll suffer,_

 _Suffer_

Keith had a blank look on his face as James finished the song and Hunk looked at the boy with teary eyes.

"That was amazing!" Hunk cheered.

"Meh," Pidge waved their hand. "I've seen better. So you better get off your pedestal, Mister High-And-Mighty." Keith laughed at that, giving his wholehearted agreement. James gave them the stink-eye. "I was just making a point. I mean, Lance, Nyma, Rolo, and Beezer are going to be playing an amazing song. I've heard it already and I'm pretty sure she got some help from people who are actually qualified to be put on a record label. Plus there's plenty of other people there who are going to have amazing songs as well."

Lance raised his eyebrows. "When did you hear the song we're playing?" James shrugged. "I work for the same record label Nyma's dad owns. Word gets around fast there. Plus I've heard all about the other competitors from some sources, who will remain unnamed for now."

Pidge leaned forward intrigued. "Who all are we up against?"

"Well, there's Romelle and her brother, Brandor. They're playing a pop song together that's pretty good. Plaxium, Luxia, Blumfump, and Swern are playing a rap song that's also good. Lotor and his crew are going to play an upbeat song that I personally like. I got to listen to that one too and it's called _Get Ready to Die._ It's pretty awesome." James grinned, while Keith groaned. Knowing James it was probably some sort of metal-esque song. The boy liked listening to metal, but didn't have the knack for writing it.

"Klaizap is playing a long song called _The Devil's Train_ and Florona is playing a shorter song called _Lifeboat._ There might be other people who might sign up, but those are the main people you want to watch out for." James brushed some dust off his shoulder. "Although the likely winners are more likely to be along the lines of Nyma's group, Romelle's group, Plaxium, and Florona. Klaizap is kind of a joke and Lotor's group is really only playing for the shits and giggles."

"I heard that Florona has kind of been exiled from the Mers," Lance commented, referring to the absurd band name. He personally liked the name he'd come up with a couple years ago for their band: Voltron. Although the rest of the group had never shown the same enthusiasm for the name. Lotor had come up with the name for his band that everyone in the school thought was the dumbest name; Lotor's Angels. Romelle and Brandor didn't really have a band name. And Nyma's group was called The Coalition, which Keith thought was a little rigid.

"Yeah. Apparently Luxia screwed something up and shoved the blame on Florona, so they haven't been talking to her lately," James answered. "But I think she's probably going to do better than them, so they'll figure out sooner or later. Her song's really good. And I don't even like that type of music." He shrugged.

"She really shows how great of a singer she is in that song. And she doesn't even need a band to do it with because she's already got a track recorded. All she has to do is sing along. Really, she could win with just her voice. That's how amazing she's been doing without them. It's kind of a shame they had her singing backup." Everyone nodded. Although people rarely got a chance to hear her voice alone, most people knew she was a good singer, if not the exact extent to how amazing that downgraded voice could be.

"So Florona is going to be someone you want to look out for. Even if she doesn't win, she's probably going to be able to get a deal from the record label."

"My question is how they have time for their band when they're also in cheerleading. Doesn't that take up a lot of time?" Hunk asked. "I'm not in cheerleading, so how should I know?" James answered. Pidge smirked. "You seem to know a lot about them, so why not?" James rolled his eyes.

"Anyways, Shiro told me that the schedule they have set up right now is pretty flexible, but the order they're planning on going in currently is Florona, Klaizap, me, Romelle and Brandor, The Mers, Lotor's Angels, The Coalition, and lastly, Voltron." Pidge cursed. "If we end up going last, we won't have a chance. Everyone will be tired of watching bands play their songs by the time we roll around." James nodded. "So Keith's going to have to ask for an earlier slot, preferrably after Klaizap so that the expectations aren't too high. Although, Nyma's probably going to react by asking for a slot either before or after you. You're probably just going to have to play really well and hope for the best." James shrugged.

Keith rolled his eyes. "Well that doesn't help much."

"It's not that big a deal if you loose, you'll still have the opportunity." Pidge rolled their eyes. "But we wanna beat everyone's asses and show those popular assholes who is boss!" They jumped up, pumping their arms in the air and accidentally punching out a light from a low-hanging chandelier. They shrieked, cradling their slightly bloodied hand to their chest. Keith quickly rushed them out of the room to get some first aid, which he knew about only because he'd been to Lance's house on numerous occasions over the week and Lance had mentioned it after he stubbed his toe once. Lance started brushing the glass into a pile and scooped it up, throwing it in a small trashcan under a coffee table.

James snorted. He already liked Pidge's spunk, even if they proved to be annoying at times. Lance was quick to ask what Keith was like at his old school and Hunk even quicker to jump on the Lets-Gossip-About-Our-Friend-That's-Just-Outside-The-Room train. And James was much quicker to sell Keith out.

"Keith's a total asshole. Which is probably why we hated each other when we first met. He always called me a teacher's-pet and we'd fight a lot. And at some point I went a little too far with one of my insults and he beat the shit out of me for it. I guarantee you've never seen him as upset as he was that day. He can be scary as shit when he wants to. And immediately after, he started smiling, acting like nothing happened. I've honestly never been as scared in my life as I was in that moment. But he called for a truce and so we stopped being really nasty to each other. We started hanging out more, even though it was pretty obvious we hated each other. We still hate each other, but I think it's not as much as we used to. He used to get in fights all the time back then. And he's a really good liar. Probably how he got out of trouble so much."

At some point during James' rambling, Keith and Pidge had gotten back. One stifled their laughter behind their hand, while the other looked slightly amused, but mostly annoyed. Lance and Hunk had noticed the two and it took everything in them to keep their faces straight. Keith slunk behind him and roughly grabbed James' shoulder, earning a yelp from the boy. "Have a nice time talking shit about me?" Keith smiled, but the irritation was clearly visible on his face. James gulped. "How long have you been standing behind me?" Keith laughed. "Since the part where I beat the crap outta you. Hey, you want to relive that moment again?" James scrambled away with a clear, "No!" Keith snorted. "Thought so."

"Did you do stuff like that at your old school a lot?" Lance asked. Keith rolled his eyes. "Only if someone pissed me off. And normally I'd save that crap for after school. A lot of kids I fought just wanted to fight because they wanted to prove themselves to their friends. So yeah, I guess I did. But I don't really do that now. Mostly because I'd get my ass kicked out if I made them think there was any chance that I might step out of line." James seemed to make a 'see this menace?' gesture.

"Anyways, are we going to practice or not? We don't have forever to get ready for this contest," Keith cracked his knuckles, receiving wholehearted agreement from the others.


	8. Growin' Tired of These Grown Man Liars

A/N: I got lazy and copy-pasted the Boy In the Bubble thing. Also look at all that correlation.

* * *

The band hall was filled with people either practicing instruments or talking about the talent show, which was taking place in the concert hall. Even a couple theater kids had joined in on the fun and were going to sing a song from a musical they were doing in the Spring (something about promoting the venue). Most people were there to play though. Although a girl named Moontow was planning on doing a comedic routine at some point.

The show opened with the school marching band and orchestra playing a ten minute long piece called Three Illusions For Orchestra, which they were doing at the moment, much to the distaste of most students, who chose to wait it out in the halls. Outside, the sound was still very loud, if somewhat annoying. Keith personally found the sound very grating as different instruments seemed to be playing at random. It didn't particularly sound like a song and more like an average marching band practice. The only sound that seemed rehearsed was the orchestra's in sync sound, which also occasionally came out of sync.

Every student in the band hall hoped and prayed that the grating sound would end soon. All except Pidge, who seemed to be bopping their head to the beat (which was very hard to discern from the song and seemed so all over the place it was hard to tell when the actual practice had ended and the song had started). Some people stared in astonishment at the girl, wondering how anyone could enjoy music like that.

Thankfully the ten minutes went quickly, with Florona being quick to go onstage to help the orchestra and marching band pack up and get off the stage. The music teacher, Zarkon, even _thanked_ her. Imagine that. The other bands were extremely off-put by this, since the orchestra teacher was known for being rude and hateful.

After some gossip between competitors and an audience that was still filtering back into the concert hall, it was made known that Florona actually took one-on-one after school classes with Zarkon, who had nothing bad to say about her voice. Which was a first. Even the Mers seemed surprised by this information.

Once the band and orchestra was all packed up, she gave her phone to one of the theater techies who were working on the sound-works. The art teacher, Coran took the stage to introduce the show and Florona.

"First up is Florona, who will be singing to an original song called _Lifeboat._ Everybody give your undivided attention and- You five in the back! Turn off your cell phones! Kids these days. Anyways, give it up for Florona!" Coran left the stage, making toward the kids who still had their phones on and Florona took center-stage with a microphone in her hands as the crowd cheered. She wore a peach colored miniskirt with a white tank-top and a peach blazer with white GUESS tennis shoes. Her golden bracelets and headband accented the entire outfit.

She twisted a strand of strawberry blonde hair behind her ear nervously before the sound of an acoustic guitar being strung sounded over the speakers. As she sung the first words, everyone stared in silence, her voice being quiet, nervous, and overall emotional. It felt to them as if she was pouring her soul straight into the air with her voice.

 _I float in a boat_

 _In a raging black ocean_

 _Low in the water_

 _And nowhere to go_

 _The tiniest lifeboat_

 _With people I know_

The melody of the guitar changed and a soft piano joined in the background, making the audience feel as if they were stranded in that same ocean. The hopelessness of the situation enveloping the words of the song.

 _Cold, clammy, and crowded_

 _The people smell desperate_

 _We'll sink any minute_

 _So someone must go_

 _The tiniest lifeboat_

 _With people I know_

The music changed, abruptly becoming loud and aggressive as an ensemble of band instruments joined in. They accentuated her voice, making it sound like a true hurricane of sound. Her voice truly showed through, emotion and beauty clearly visible through her voice. Everything she felt, was carried through the sound. She was that hurricane.

 _Everyone's pushing_

 _Everyone's fighting_

 _Storms are approaching_

 _There's nowhere to hide_

 _If I say the wrong thing_

 _Or I wear the wrong outfit_

 _They'll throw me right over the side._

She hung on the last note before continuing onto the next section of song, her voice raw and vulnerable. She seemed rebellious at first, but quickly became resigned. Violins started playing background, accentuating her plight and making her voice sound even sadder as she sung, ending with a soft symbol roll.

 _I'm hugging my knees_

 _And the captain is pointing_

 _Well, who made her captain?!_

 _Still, the weakest must go_

 _The tiniest lifeboat_

 _Full of people I know_

 _The tiniest lifeboat_

 _Full of people I know_

The audience was silent for a moment, their shock and awe apparent to everyone except the nervous young girl onstage, who shifted from foot to foot. Then everyone was suddenly on their feet, cheering. Other competitors cursed, knowing how impossible it would be to compete with that. James nudged Keith with a knowing look on his face.

As Florona nervously left the stage, she was immediately met with congratulatory remarks. Klaizap, who was next, seemed a little unnerved. He was now regretting having asked to go second. He had long, curly dark hair, that was put up in a man bun. He tugged at the collar of his yellow shirt, his green jacket hanging low over his shoulders.

He nervously went onstage with his phone held out for a techie to take and his head held high, making his short stature seem just a little taller. Coran joined him, giving him an encouraging pat on the back. "Thank you, Florona. Now next is Klaizap, who is going to tell a story about his grandfather through song called _The Devil's Train._ Give it up for him everybody!" Coran left the stage and the uppity music started, Klaizap nervously rapping along to the lyrics.

 _My Grand-pops was a man of respect, had to sweat_

 _Just to cash checks working from sun-rise to set_

 _Every day he'd get challenged, no trades or talents_

 _Barely scraped by, he found faith to balance the straight line_

 _And pace feeling worn and grey_

 _Poor with four seeds, one more on the way_

 _It was hard days indeed all work and no play_

 _He made sure things on the surface were okay, but_

 _Something disturbin' within his mind was lurkin'_

 _A slight twilight breeze would ease in through the curtains at night_

 _It's like the sermon of a twisted apparition_

 _Was urging him to listen to the train in the distance_

 _At first it wasn't intense, just one little instance_

 _Sure, it didn't occur, he turned to resist it_

 _As if it wasn't much more than just a figment of his imagination but for days it was persistent_

 _And it went, "follow me, follow me. follow me, follow me" then it got louder_

 _"follow me, follow me, I have something to show you"_

 _With time people noticed he was actin berserk_

 _Granny got a call saying he was absent from work_

 _And that was a first_

 _She ran to the pastor at church_

 _To ask him what was up with this disastrous curse_

 _But bad went to worse_

 _He came back three days after, no money in his wallet and his shirt on backwards_

 _Stumbling, walked awkward he called out for his daughter_

 _Right before he split the last lesson he taught her was this_

 _"If you ever have a son let him know that his granddad loves him but by the time that he's grown_

 _Be sure this seed is sown deep down into his dome, don't ever ever walk to the train tracks alone"_

 _With that he backed up reached out for his jacket_

 _Told her not to act up and cracked up laughin'_

 _After all that happened he left never to be seen_

 _Fifteen years later is when my mother had me_

 _Her dad lived a life people can't understand_

 _Went from a, family man to rambling man_

 _A gambling man that burned both ends of the candle_

 _Folded his hand in it was too hot to handle_

His voice suddenly became softer as he seemed to whisper the lyrics into the mic.

 _Sitting on the tracks waiting for the night train_

 _Looking down the road ain't never gonna go back_

 _Listen for the whistle through the wind and raindrop_

 _Who's gonna ride the devil's train tonight?_

 _Sitting on the tracks waiting for the night train_

 _Looking down the road ain't never gonna go back_

 _Listen for the whistle through the wind and raindrop_

 _Who's gonna ride the devil's train tonight?_

He started rapping again, the lilting tune starting again.

 _When I was a tot my mom dropped fables and stories_

 _To warn me of the dangers that were layin before me_

 _To keep it interestin' she would hide the lesson_

 _To guide my direction, provide the right message_

 _In time I developed a sense of her embellishment_

 _Since I was rebellious against what she was tellin me_

 _When I was a teen I pretend-ed that my demons were friends_

 _I defended the place. yo and that was the case_

 _Slurred speech drippin' off of my face_

 _The world creeped as I slipped to the awfulest place you could imagine_

 _Not the average things you see on acid;_

 _My granddad bloody hovering on a speaker cabinet_

 _Laughing in a raspy tone, covered in maggots_

 _That snacked on his mass of a bone, I couldn't grasp it_

 _Did a double dismount off of the couch, flipped out_

 _Broke the closest window I found, then I dipped out_

 _Suddenly, I discovered little voices mumbling up in my head_

 _It had me wondering what was it my mother said_

 _Back when I was younger it had my brain ragged_

 _As I stumbled off of the night towards the train tracks_

He started up on the chorus again, the crowd seeming less than thrilled to be listening in.

 _Sitting on the tracks waiting for the night train_

 _Looking down the road ain't never gonna go back_

 _Listen for the whistle through the wind and raindrop_

 _Who's gonna ride the devil's train tonight?_

 _Sitting on the tracks waiting for the night train_

 _Looking down the road ain't never gonna go back_

 _Listen for the whistle through the wind and raindrop_

 _Who's gonna ride the devil's train tonight?_

As he sung the next portion of the song, he changed his voice to mimic different characters in the song.

 _So there I was, stalking through the dark with a buzz_

 _I figured I should walk that'll ease me off of these drugs_

 _It's like a shark had to keep movin' it's that or be ruined;_

 _If I sat still I was doomed and that wasn't doin'_

 _So I marched through the park slow, gone like Donnie Darko_

 _The sparkle of the starlight, glowed like charcoal_

 _Despite my demeanor_

 _The night seemed more serene than a morphine fiend in a morgue, it seemed_

 _Like I lost it, that was when my grand-pops carcass emerged from the dark_

 _Gurggling his words of carnage, but he couldn't talk_

 _Something about the birth of sadness_

 _I scurried off, I was on the verge of madness_

 _I raced fast pace in the landscape was strange like a plane parallel to this one but rearranged_

 _Came to a slope to a steep, beggin' for sleep_

 _As I climbed up taking my focus off of the creeps_

 _Within the foggy distance I saw a silhouette that got bigger as I stepped_

 _The train tracks were wet, I saw a shiny grin from afar like it was happy_

 _This is what he said as he started to walk passed me_

 _"It's a nice night for a walk, would ya mind if I joined you?"_

 _"Do what you wanna do"_

 _"Well that's great cause I'm going to_

 _And not to annoy you but see I really have to ask_

 _What a young dude like you's doin out by the tracks? You waiting on a traaain"_

 _"Nah man let me explain_

 _I'm mindin' my business so maybe you should do the same_

 _I just been a witness to something sick and sadistic_

 _So twistedly disgusting you should feel real lucky you missed it."_

 _"Ooh easy with the tongue son, try to listen carefully_

 _What you seen's scary but nothing when compared to me_

 _I could show you things that paint all your dreams haunted_

 _I could make you scream if I wanted_

 _Or I can be the bee in your bonnet, your best-friend forever_

 _Two peas in a pod flocking like birds of a feather_

 _And you never have a need to beg work or steal_

 _If all this sounds worth it then lets make a deal_

 _All you want in life for price of your soul_

 _All the money you can fold, power that you can hold_

 _I'll put you in control, only if you're down to roll down these train tracks tonight."_

 _"But where we gonna go?"_

 _Sitting on the tracks waiting for the night train_

 _Looking down the road ain't never gonna go back_

 _Listen for the whistle through the wind and raindrop_

 _Who's gonna ride the devil's train tonight?_

 _Sitting on the tracks waiting for the night train_

 _Looking down the road ain't never gonna go back_

 _Listen for the whistle through the wind and raindrop_

 _Who's gonna ride the devil's train tonight?_

The crowd cheered politely, but nobody was particularly impressed. Coran, however, had gotten teary-eyed and stood, clapping louder than the entirety of the concert hall. Klaizap smiled, proud that he'd at least made one person happy before he left the stage.

Nyma walked up to Voltron, giving a disgusted look, Lance trailing sheepishly after her and her friends giving even more menacing looks toward the group. "Good luck, losers. After our performance, nobody's going to want to stay and watch you." She flipped her hair over her shoulder, slapping Keith in the face with said hair.

Lance shrugged helplessly and James rolled his eyes as the group went onstage. Nyma handed one of the techies her phone, proceeding then to lather her hands in hand sanitizer before they went onstage. The only people who had an instrument were Lance and Beezer, who was on drums. Rolo was serving as a beatboxer and Lance would sing background vocals for Nyma.

"Everyone welcome the Coalition to the stage!" The crowd cheered, one person even professing his love for Nyma overly loudly, which earned the teen a harsh glare from the blonde. "Today they will be playing an original song called _Life Afraid._ Give it up everyone!" They received another cheer from the audience before the sound of a violin over the speakers was heard, triggering the start of the song. Nobody played their instruments yet.

 _I, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired_

 _And letting all these negative thoughts collide_

 _Why betray my mind, when I know the control is mine_

 _Got no time to sit on the sidelines and watch 'em play_

 _People around the world, people around the world_

 _Gotta strike like lightning, and shine like we're not afraid_

 _People around the world say_

Lance and Beezer started playing their instruments through the duration of the chorus.

 _I'm alive_

 _I'm breathing today_

 _I'm alive_

 _Just dying to make_

 _A good vibe_

 _I'm still in the game_

 _And I won't live my life afraid, hey!_

They quieted again as they sung the next verse.

 _No, nobody can relieve me of my ghosts (Oh, oh, oh)_

 _But I refuse to let 'em define my soul (Oh, oh, oh)_

 _Though they come and go, I'm the one with the guts to stay_

 _Got no time to sit on the sidelines and watch 'em play_

 _People around the world, people around the world_

 _Gotta strike like lightning, and shine through the pouring rain_

 _People around the world say_

They started playing their instruments again as a couple people in the crowd started holding up their phones with the flashlight on, waving them around. Coran seemed very annoyed by this as he raced around the hall trying to stop them.

 _I'm alive  
_

 _'m breathing today_

 _I'm alive_

 _Just dying to make_

 _A good vibe_

 _I'm still in the game_

 _And I won't live my life afraid, hey!_

Everyone in the band started singing together, hyping up the crowd even more.

 _Hey, ho_

 _Hey, ho_

 _Hey, ho_

 _Sing it back_

 _Sing it back_

 _Sing it back, here we go!_

 _Ladies! Hey_

 _Go!_

The girls in the crowd cheered back.

 _Fellas! Oh, oh, oh_

Nyma smiled proudly as all the boys cheered back. She signaled Lance to come closer to her and he did, playing into the chorus perfectly.

 _I'm alive_

 _I'm breathing today_

 _I'm alive_

 _Just dying to make_

 _A good vibe_

 _I'm still in the game_

 _And I won't live my life afraid_

 _I'm alive_

 _I'm breathing today_

 _I'm alive_

 _Just dying to make_

 _A good vibe_

 _I'm still in the game_

 _And I won't live my life afraid_

 _I'm alive_

 _I'm breathing today_

 _I'm alive_

 _Just dying to make_

 _A good vibe_

 _I'm still in the game_

 _And I won't live my life afraid_

 _Hey!_

The crowd cheered loudly, clearly enthused by their performance. As they walked offstage, Lance shot Team Voltron a thumbs up, while Nyma glared haughtily at them.

The group did their best to psych themselves up as Coran came onstage to introduce them.

"Now we have Voltron here to play a song called _I'm a Kamikaze,_ so everyone give them some applause!" They breathed out together before going onstage. One techie asked if they had anything on a phone for them, but Pidge shook their head. "That's what I'm here for," They smirked, pointing a thumb at themself. They had a lot of equipment, which took some help from Hunk to bring onstage while Allura and Keith stood at the front of the stage with their guitars. The song started out with Keith strumming his guitar and Allura clapping along. Soon Pidge was building sound upon it and Hunk was pounding the bass to the beat of the song, while Keith started singing, taking a deep, calming breath before doing so.

 _Here in this room_

 _I'm chasing down my demons_

 _I can hear them breathing_

 _But who knew?_

 _You would be my comfort_

 _You could bring me healing_

 _Well if my friends gonna let me slide_

 _How come you never left my side?_

 _Before I go make it last all night_

 _While I slip into the great divide_

Hunk started really playing now and Allura joined in on guitar as Keith's singing sped up into the chorus. Keith sung more enthusiastically, smiling as he played.

 _Stepping out of body_

 _No matter what you call it_

 _I'm a kamikaze_

 _Abandon all your logic_

 _And put your money on it_

 _I'm a kamikaze_

Allura sung softly along to the next two lines, her voice lacking her usual slur from unuse after having practiced those words for a long time. It was hard for her to learn how to sing again. She'd loved singing before she lost her hearing, but now she just felt nervous. Her voice was still as sweet as if had been before though.

 _Going down with my wings on fire_

 _Guess I'll see you in another life_

Keith sung by himself now, playing a sick guitar solo between the end of the chorus and the next verse.

 _Stepping out of body_

 _You can tell everybody_

 _Mama I'm a kamikaze_

Pidge cheered, pulling the melody back into the next verse.

 _All is not lost_

 _My veins are seething_

 _I can feel the freedom_

 _Let them talk_

 _It's not about the crown_

 _We could share the kingdom_

 _If my friends gonna let me slide_

 _How come you never left my side?_

 _Before I go make it last all night_

 _While I slip into the great divide_

They all pooled their efforts into the chorus, Keith singing perfectly. It gave off the same sort of vibe the last song had, making it seem like they had been the ones playing the entire time. Like as if the last band hadn't gone offstage at all. They seemed to be riding off the vibes of the last song. **_At least if we can't make a song better than theirs, we can match them to a T._** Keith smirked as he reached the chorus.

 _Stepping out of body_

 _No matter what you call it_

 _I'm a kamikaze_

 _Abandon all your logic_

 _And put your money on it_

 _I'm a kamikaze_

 _Going down with my wings on fire_

 _Guess I'll see you in another life_

 _Stepping out of body_

 _You can tell everybody_

 _Mama I'm a kamikaze_

Keith played his guitar solo again and let out a cheer like a real rock star.

 _If my friends gonna let me slide_

 _How come you never left my side?_

 _Before I go make it last all night_

 _While I slip into the great divide_

The group slid into the chorus again, showing just as much enthusiasm as they'd shown throughout the song. Keith seemed to sing with a new edge laced into has voice.

 _Stepping out of body_

 _No matter how you call it_

 _This is suicidal honey_

 _Nothing you can do about it_

 _Let me take the check_

 _With the reckless abandon on it_

 _Just call me kamikaze_

 _Stepping out of body_

 _No matter what you call it_

 _I'm a kamikaze_

 _Abandon all your logic_

 _And put your money on it_

 _I'm a kamikaze_

 _Going down with my wings on fire_

 _Guess I'll see you in another life_

 _Stepping out of body_

 _You can tell everybody_

 _Mama I'm a kamikaze_

The crowd cheered just as loudly as they had for the Coalition, even though they hadn't directly provoked the audience and were generally disliked by them, they still cheered like they had for the group they preferred. Voltron smiled proudly before taking their leave. Nyma sneered at them, believing she had won, while James elbowed Keith in the ribs. "My turn's next. Hopefully all the extra work you guys had to put in-in the moment gives you extra points. Wish me luck." James looked a little stuffy and sweaty in his light blue sweater with a white-collared shirt underneath.

"LUCK!" The group shouted at once, startling James and a couple people around them. He smiled in startled surprise and gave them a thumbs up.

He went onstage with his guitar, adjusting his collar. "And here's James Griffin, the new kid on the block here to show everyone what he can do! Give it up for him and his song, _Boy In the Bubble_!" The crowd cheered again and James started playing immediately.

He started strumming the guitar experimentally and singing rapid-fire.

 _It was 6:48, I was walking home_

 _Stepped through the gate, and I'm all alone_

 _I had chicken on the plate, but the food was cold_

 _Then I covered up my face so that no one knows_

 _I didn't want trouble, I'm the boy in the bubble_

 _But then came trouble_

 _When my mom walked into the living room_

 _She said, "Boy, you gotta tell me what they did to you"_

 _I said, "You don't wanna know the things I had to do"_

 _She said, "Son, you gotta tell me why you're black and blue"_

 _I said I didn't want trouble, I'm the boy in the bubble_

 _But then came trouble_

The guitar part got lower and he started singing more fermata than before.

 _And my heart was pumping, chest was screaming_

 _Mind was running, air was freezing_

 _Put my hands up, put my hands up_

 _I told this kid I'm ready for a fight_

He stopped for a long moment before continuing into the chorus.

 _Punch my face, do it 'cause I like the pain_

 _Every time you curse my name_

 _I know you want the satisfaction, it's not gonna happen_

 _Knock me out, kick me when I'm on the ground_

 _It's only gonna let you down_

 _Come the lightning and the thunder_

 _You're the one who'll suffer, suffer_

He started singing rapid-fire again and played a little more calmly now. The way he played was robotic.

 _Well I squared him up, left my chest exposed_

 _He threw a quick left hook and it broke my nose_

 _I had thick red blood running down my clothes_

 _And a sick, sick look 'cause I like it though_

 _I said I didn't want trouble, I'm the boy in the bubble_

 _But then came trouble_

He started singing with longer notes as he transitioned into the chorus.

 _And my heart was pumping, chest was screaming_

 _Mind was running, nose was bleeding_

 _Put my hands up, put my hands up_

 _I told this kid I'm ready for a fight_

The way he played the song seemed a little wrong, like the song itself was begging for some sort of freedom.

 _Punch my face, do it 'cause I like the pain_

 _Every time you curse my name_

 _I know you want the satisfaction, it's not gonna happen_

 _Knock me out, kick me when I'm on the ground_

 _It's only gonna let you down_

 _Come the lightning and the thunder_

 _You're the one who'll suffer_

The way he sung the next part of the song seemed a little more empathetic, switching between ideas and opinions. The same way he'd sung for Keith over a year ago. He'd taken to not playing at all during this portion.

 _It was 6:48, he was walking home_

 _With the blood on his hand from my broken nose_

 _But like every other day, he was scared to go_

 _Back to his house 'cause his pops was home_

 _Drowning his troubles in whiskey bubbles_

 _Just looking for trouble_

 _Well, there's no excuse for the things he did_

 _But there's a lot at home that he's dealing with_

 _Because his dad's been drunk since he was a kid_

 _And I hope one day that he'll say to him_

 _"Put down those bubbles and that belt buckle_

 _"In this broken bubble"_

He seemed to sing a little differently, although the robotic pattern of his fingers continued as he finished the song.

 _Punch my face, do it 'cause I like the pain_

 _Every time you curse my name_

 _I know you want the satisfaction, it's not gonna happen_

 _Knock me out, kick me when I'm on the ground_

 _It's only gonna let you down_

 _Come the lightning and the thunder_

 _You're the one who'll suffer,_

 _Suffer_

The crowd cheered, albeit not as loudly as they had for the last couple bands. He left the stage with a smile though and high-fived Keith just as Lotor and his crew showed up (they never practiced out in the open, so they'd rented a practice room). Keith high-fived his sister and fist-bumped Lotor as they approached. The group was a little more partial toward Keith since he was Acxa's brother and because of what they'd heard about him from his last school.

"I didn't hear much from your performance, but from what I did, I'd say you did very well," Lotor commented. Zethrid had her blue and pink hair in a partial-high ponytail and wore green lipstick, green tennis shoes, and a pink and blue jumpsuit. Ezor had her now (she dyed her hair a lot) bright pink hair in a ponytail and wore a light pink crop top, white flats, and a long, white skirt that went down to her knees. Narti wore a dark blue hijab, a black sweatshirt with a cat on it, blue tennis shoes, and jeans. Lotor had giant earrings all over his ears and sunglasses. He wore a black bomber jacket over a grey shirt that said 'Haters make me famous.' He was taller than everyone in the general area (except for Zethrid, who had the height of a skyscraper) so everyone had to literally look up to him.

"Here's to hoping we're not at the bottom of the list though," Pidge commented. Lotor nodded. "Hopefully we don't all make fools of ourselves. I don't plan on winning this thing, but it would at least be nice to not be in last place," Lotor hummed thoughtfully.

James laughed. "I think Klaizap's already keeping last place nice and cozy. You'll be fine." Lotor nodded his head thoughtfully. "Well, thank you for the encouragement, but I believe our turn is coming up and I wouldn't want to leave everyone waiting." Everyone yelled 'LUCK' again before Lotor and his crew entered the stage, also choosing not to use the techies to add background music.

"And here is Lotor's Angels here to play another song called _Get Ready To Die."_ Coran double-checked his note cards, making sure that that was in fact the name of the song before shrugging. "Lets give a round of applause for them!" The crowd cheered and Acxa almost immediately started playing on guitar, Zethrid following up on drums. Lotor started singing in a rather deep voice, seeming to belong to a metal singer and not the fashionably cult-ish guy it came from.

 _This is your time to pay_

 _This is your judgment day_

 _We made a sacrifice_

 _And now we get to take your life_

 _We shoot without a gun_

 _We'll take on anyone_

 _It's really nothing new_

 _It's just a thing we like to do_

Narti added another layer of guitar and Zethrid started going crazy on the drums.

 _You better get ready to die_

 _You better get ready to kill_

 _You better get ready to run_

 _'Cause here we come_

The guitar sounds started to build and develop through this phrase.

 _You better get ready to die_

 _Your life is over now_

 _Your life is running out_

 _When your time is at an end_

 _Then it's time to kill again_

 _We cut without a knife_

 _We live in black and white_

 _Your just a parasite_

 _Now close your eyes and say good-night_

The guitars started playing together again, making an enthusiastic and uppity beat for the chorus again.

 _You better get ready to die_

 _You better get ready to kill_

 _You better get ready to run_

 _'Cause here we come_

 _You better get ready to die_

 _Get ready to die_

 _You better get ready to die, get ready to die_

The crowd cheered as the group left the stage. They immediately started mingling with the other band members. Despite the rumors about them, they seemed to have a great quality about them that made everyone want to talk to them, even if they were competitors.

Keith noticed the Mers talking to Florona (it looked more like they were harassing her, but whatever) near the emergency exit. The girls and Blumfump seemed to want her back, but Florona kept denying them over and over again. Romelle and Bandor were already going onstage, so he quickly lost interest in favor of the next performance.

"Here we have brother and sister, Romelle and Brandor who are going to play a song called _I'm a Mess._ Please give it up for these guys!"

Bandor gave the techies his phone as he walked to the center of the stage with his sister. His sister held a microphone in her hands and Bandor brandished a shiny, dark blue guitar, which matched his t-shirt. The shirt that had a picture of a yellow cat, the same color as his sister's crop top, which she wore with a navy skirt and jandals. As he played his guitar, she sang in perfect harmony.

 _Everything's been so messed up here lately_

 _Pretty sure he don't wanna be my baby_

 _Oh, he don't love me, he don't love me_

 _He don't love me, he don't love me_

 _But that's okay_

 _'Cause I love me, yeah, I love me_

 _Yeah, I love me_

 _Yeah, I love myself anyway_

 _Hey_

As she transitioned into the chorus, he started singing backup, the two sharing the mic.

 _Everything's gonna be alright_

 _Everything's gonna be okay_

 _It's gonna be a good, good, life_

 _That's what my therapist say_

 _Everything's gonna be alright_

 _Everything's gonna be just fine_

 _It's gonna be a good, good life_

Romelle started clapping with the mic in her hands as she transitioned into the chorus.

 _I'm a mess, I'm a loser_

 _I'm a hater, I'm a user_

 _I'm a mess for your love, it ain't new_

 _I'm obsessed, I'm embarrassed_

 _I don't trust no one around us_

 _I'm a mess for your love, it ain't new_

The beat calmed down as they went and Romelle started snapping her fingers to the beat.

 _Nobody shows up unless I'm paying_

 _Have a drink on me cheers to the failing_

 _Oh, he don't love me, he don't love me_

 _He don't love me, he don't love me_

 _But that's okay_

 _'Cause I love me, yeah, I love me_

 _Yeah, I love me_

 _Yeah, I love myself anyway_

 _Hey_

Bandor started singing backup again, their voices harmonizing and sounding perfect together.

 _Everything's gonna be alright_

 _Everything's gonna be okay_

 _It's gonna be a good, good life_

 _That's what my therapist say_

 _Everything's gonna be alright_

 _Everything's gonna be just fine_

 _It's gonna be a good, good life_

The track from Bandor's phone held up a nice drum roll as the song proceeded into the chorus.

 _I'm a mess, I'm a loser_

 _I'm a hater, I'm a user_

 _I'm a mess for your love, it ain't new_

 _I'm obsessed, I'm embarrassed_

 _I don't trust no one around us_

 _I'm a mess for your love, it ain't new_

Bandor started singing now as Romelle sung backup.

 _Everything's gonna be alright, alright_

 _Everything's gonna be just fine, just fine_

 _It's gonna be a good, good life_

They once again switched back to Romelle leading and Bandor following.

 _I'm a mess, I'm a loser_

 _I'm a hater, I'm a user_

 _I'm a mess for your love, it ain't new_

 _I'm obsessed, I'm embarrassed_

 _I don't trust no one around us_

 _I'm a mess for your love, it ain't new_

The crowd cheered loudly as the siblings rushed offstage, met by congratulations. They smiled widely, but never replied to the comments, not feeling like they's done their very best or as if they could amount to what everyone else had shaped up to be. Voltron started chatting amongst each other, arguing over their chances of getting second place (everyone agreed that Florona was a force to be reckoned with and there was no chance they could win against that).

"Okay. Bet. Twenty dollars says the order in which we win is Florona, Voltron, Coalition, Romelle and Brandor, Lotor's Angels, James, the Mers, and Klaizap," Pidge proclaimed. "Okay. Thirty says the order is Florona, Coalition, Voltron, Romelle and Brandor, James, the Mers, Lotor's Angels, and Klaizap." Hunk held his hand out to Pidge, who shook it with a death grip. "Fifty says the Mers get disqualified before they can perform and the order will be Florona, Voltron, Coalition, James, Romelle and Brandor, Lotor's Angels, and Klaizap," Keith said distractedly. The two glanced at each other before eagerly taking him on that bet.

Keith was busy watching as the Mers continued to harass Florona. Didn't they know their turn was up? Apparently not. Voltron seemed to notice the drama coming from the Mers as Luxia growled at Florona and grabbed the girl by the hair, starting a fight between the five. Tufts of Luxia's blue weave started flying everywhere as Florona fought back with just as much power. Swirn, Blumfump, and Plaxum tried to pry the angered girl off the blonde. Florona scratched her face, leaving dark red lines across her dark skin. People started crowding them, chanting 'Fight! Fight! Fight!' Soon enough Coran, Shiro, and Zarkon were intervening and pulling the girls apart.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Zarkon boomed. Everyone was silent for a moment before Plaxum broke the silence. "Luxia attacked Florona because she wouldn't join our band again." Luxia growled and lunged for the snitching girl before Shiro lifted her off the ground. "In that case, the Mers will be unable to compete in this competition." Luxia screeched in distaste and the other Mers hung their heads in shame.

"Florona's performance will still count in the competition because she was only protecting herself from Luxia," Zarkon proclaimed, turning toward the theater geeks. "You all better get onstage. Your turn is coming up." The nervous theater people quickly skedaddled. Pidge stared at Keith in awe. "Dude, why didn't you tell us you were a friggin' wizard?" Keith bristled. "I'm not. I just could tell shit was gonna go down." Pidge chuckled, before getting lost in conversation with Allura and Hunk.

Everyone who'd already performed chose to ignore the theater group, choosing instead to gossip about what happened with the Mers or just talking about who would win. There was an unspoken agreement that Florona was definitely going to win first place. There was no doubt about it from anyone in the audience or the performers.

When the theater kids were finally done with their little performance, all eyes went to the stage, where Coran walked to the center of it with a small white envelope and a microphone.

"All right. Congratulations to everyone who performed here today! Let's give everyone one last round of applause!" The audience roared with applause for a couple minutes before quieting down again. Coran cleared his throat. "I hope you've all had a great night and made some amazing memories here tonight. Now, for the moment you all have been waiting for: The winners of this year's talent contest!" Everyone clapped, eagerly awaiting the results. Performers leaned forward in interest (Klaizap leaned forward a little too far and fell flat on his face).

"In first place, with her amazing, show-stopping performance, we have Florona!" A loud cheer erupted from the audience as Florona abashedly shuffled onstage. She smiled at Coran, who gave her a warm hug. She quietly whispered into Coran's ear before pulling away, the red-headed man holding a surprised expression on his face. He turned to the audience. "And in second place, the group that will be taking the prize originally meant for first place-" A murmur spread through the crowd like wildfire and the Coalition stepped in front of Voltron, obstructing their view of the stage.

Nyma smirked. "Better make way, losers. We're taking second place." Pidge rolled her eyes, peering around Nyma to watch as Coran finished his sentence.

"We have Voltron! Congratulations!" Pidge smirked, pushing past an open-mouthed Nyma. Allura, Hunk, and Keith followed close behind. Lance smiled softly at his friends, while his girlfriend scoffed, ranting about how 'those assholes don't deserve second place!'

"And in third place we have the Coalition! Let's give them a round of applause, everyone!" Coran moved on cheerfully. The Coalition walked onstage beside Voltron and Florona. The rest of the performers started making their way onstage behind the major 3 as Coran called them.

"In fourth we have James Griffin, in fifth we have Romelle and Brandor, in sixth we have Lotor's Angels, and in last place we have Klaizap. Everyone give them a round of applause!" There was a cheer and Pidge stared at Keith in awe. "How the fuck?" They gaped at Keith, who just smirked slightly in reply.

"You guys owe me." Pidge gasped. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Allura elbowed them in the ribs with a soft smile.

"Congratulations, Voltron on getting the opportunity to play at the biggest game of the year! I hope to see you all there next Friday! Go Lions!" Coran cheered enthusiastically, leaving the stage as rowdy teenagers started hooting and hollering about the game and everyone started to disperse.

* * *

End A/N:

Three Illusions For Orchestra - Elliot Carter

Lifeboat - Heathers

Devil's Train - Lab Rats

Life Afraid - Set It Off

I'm a Kamikaze - WALK THE MOON

Boy In the Bubble - Alec Benjamin

Get Ready To Die - Andrew W.K.

I'm a Mess - Bebe Rexha


	9. Through ourselves we send a sign

A/N:

So I've had this idea in my mind since I started writing this fic months ago and I didn't mean to have this Halloween-themed chapter actually come out around Halloween. But I'm really happy that it did! I'm also taking my baby sister out for her second Halloween. She's already walking and talking a lot, so I wanted to show her off. She's either going to be a ladybug or a spider for Halloween and I'm just an ancient Egyptian. Happy Halloween guys! 

I had a hard time transitioning, but I feel I did an okay job on the individual parts. Thank you guys for taking the time to read this crap! Hope you're still enjoying it. I've got some crazy stuff coming up soon!

Idk how to write about football. Is any of this actually accurate at all?

I'm also starting a small theme in this chapter that is definitely going to be used in one of the last chapters (probably just the last one). You'll know what it is when I actually post the last chapter. :)

Also this is the chapter where we start to realize how serious mental illness really is! Be safe guys!

"Yo! We got a yes from the band teacher! Moontow is all about the idea you had, Keith. And y'know, because of the Halloween thing, they're talking about getting all the marching band-people to dress up in their Halloween costumes," Lance rambled, not seeming to mind much as Keith seemingly ignored him in favor of playing clarinet. "I thought maybe we could do something like that."

Keith glanced at him curiously. "I thought Nyma wasn't letting you play with us?" Lance shrugged. "She doesn't care as much now that the talent show is over. Plus it's just one show."

"You and Nyma gonna dress up together for Halloween?" Keith asked, taking to practicing again. "Nah. Hunk said that we should do group costumes as a band or something." Lance shrugged. "Do you really think you'll be able to write lyrics for the entire marching band by the game? It's less than a week away." Keith paused.

"Yeah. I mean, I've already written up a page for the first clarinets. All I need to do is water that down for the second and third clarinets, then write similar lyrics for the other wooden instruments. I've started on brass already too and Hunk says he's going to do percussion. And I've been able to find time during some of my classes to work on it. So I've got plenty of time to finish. Plus the band is really good, so I have no doubt they'll be able to figure it out quickly. Especially with two hour practices before school, their classes, and four hour practices after school. And then the pre-game practices. And Moontow will probably let them use their liars for this performance," Keith said, gesturing to the metal instrument attached to the clarinet. He snatched a black pen from an assortment of writing utensils lying around the floor and started writing on the small binder-like object attached to the liar.

"Sometimes I think the band instructors overwork their kids." Keith laughed. "Well, maybe, but look at them. They look like the fucking football players with all that muscle." Lance raised his eyebrows at that. "That's hella gay." Keith punched him in the shoulder. _"I'm_ hella gay." The two boys laughed at the simple joke.

"Florona said she's going to make this big galaxy cloth that's supposed to encompass the whole field for halftime. I guess it's supposed to go with the theme of the last song. She's talking about getting a bunch of people from colorguard to dress up as aliens." Lance raised his eyebrows. "Wow. Everyone's going to be so busy for the game," Lance commented. Keith nodded. "Yep. Everything's coming together pretty well though, despite the short time slot." Lance snorted. "All thanks to the student council prez. I'm surprised she hasn't passed out from all the work she's been doing on her own."

"When are the others gonna get here? It's been, like," Keith checked his phone. "Half an hour since they were supposed to be here." Lance shrugged. "I think Pidge mentioned the car breaking down or something. I don't fucking know." Keith snorted at that, while Lance punched him in the shoulder, an unamused look on his face.

Keith glanced behind Lance, seeing obviously unreal shadow people snaking toward the two boys, the veil keeping them within visibility so thin it was almost non-existent. Keith coughed, reminding himself that it wasn't real. Just his stress messing with him. He could go a couple weeks without his meds. He could tell the difference between reality and hallucinations. Couldn't he?

The answer was no, no he couldn't. His mind was racing a mile a minute and yet he couldn't grasp a single grounding thought. Why did this always have to happen at the most inconvenient times? He groaned, slumping over the couch cushion and laying his instrument down on the ground. Lance flopped onto his back beside him, completely oblivious to Keith's inner turmoil. Keith hated how things like this always happened so suddenly. Hated how his mood could flip from okay-ish to horrible in seconds. He decided to ignore the voices in his head in favor of trying to write the musical accompaniment for clarinet. But it was extremely difficult as the voices started to get louder.

 ** _You're such a failure._**

 ** _You're a pussy._**

 ** _No one cares about you._**

 ** _You're clingy._**

 ** _An asshole._**

 ** _Abomination._**

 ** _Disgusting._**

 ** _Stupid._**

 ** _Violent._**

 ** _Hated._**

 ** _Crazy._**

 ** _Pushy._**

 ** _Showoff._**

 ** _You have no future._**

 ** _Everyone will leave you._**

 _ **Why don't you leave them first?**_

Keith stood in a daze, the shadows closing in on him. "Um, where's your bathroom?" Lance pointed toward a hall and mumbled, "First to the left." He noticed how Lance had a strange look on his face. It made him uncomfortable. Almost as if the Cuban boy could see right through him. Keith nodded and strode toward the first door on the left with purpose, his demons following close behind.

* * *

Keith stood in front of the bathroom mirror, hating the tears that flowed freely down his face, almost as if burning through his skin like acid. He double checked to make sure the bathroom door was locked before opening the side mirror and snatching a random bottle of prescription pills from the cabinet.

Keith twisted at the medicine cap, gave up, and attempting to pry it open the bottle with his teeth, tears flooding his vision and shadows invading his thoughts. "Stupid childproof caps!" He growled, groaning in frustration as the cap refused to budge. Suddenly a very feminine and familiar voice spoke from the mirror of the bathroom.

 _"Oh, look! Keith is going to-"_ Keith looked up, seeing a shadow-encased version of his sister in the mirror instead of himself and suddenly he was surrounded by the mocking faces of his friends. " _Whine, whine, whine all night!"_ Acxa crawled out of the mirror, her dark, menacing, red eyes boring into his soul. Her short, dark hair framed her face in shadows and an abnormally wide and cruel smile covered her face. She wore the same school-girl outfit she'd convinced him to wear that one Halloween night years ago when he was just starting to get better, reminding him of how screwed up his head was now. It seemed kind of odd though, but he wasn't in the right state of mind to think too much about it.

 _"You don't deserve to live!"_ Pidge gripped his shoulder, their wide smile deeply unsettling. They didn't seem to mind the look of abject horror plain on his face, simply spinning him to face Allura. _"Why not kill yourself?"_ Allura asked with a slur from her spot, sitting on the toilet. Acxa slid a finger along her neck as if to slit it as Allura spoke. _"Here have a sedative!"_ Acxa tapped the lid of the bottle of pills Keith was trying so desperately to open, which popped open just as she did. His hands shook so much, causing the pills to rattle in the bottle and a couple fell to the floor. _"Whine, whine, whine!"_ The others cried in a lilting rhythm, Lance grabbing his other shoulder and staring him in the face with a disappointed, yet hateful look on his face. He looked in the mirror, away from Lance, seeing Hunk, Lance, and Pidge glaring hatefully at him from behind Acxa. _"Like there's no Santa Claus!"_ Acxa gripped his chin, her threatening gaze poring over his face, the disgust evident on her face, despite the shadows overlaying her figure. He heard someone banging on the door, but the sound was drowned out by the sounds of the hatred surrounding him. He gripped his head, strands of hair coming loose as he did.

 _"You're pathetic because you whine!"_ Acxa crawled off the counter, her plaid skirt falling mid-thigh as her polished shoes tapped on the tile. She grabbed him by the throat, choking him and his vision swam, having already been extremely deprived of oxygen. His hiccups died on his lips. The banging on the door became even louder and he thought he could hear Lance yelling through the door.

But that couldn't be right. Lance was standing right next to him, grinning spitefully.

 _"You whine all night!"_ Acxa screamed at him, dropping his limp form. He collapsed to the floor, heaving for breath on his knees. The others started chanting the words _"Whine, whine, whine,"_ over and over, driving him mad.

 _"Your ass is off the team!"_ Lance circled around him like a lion eyeing its prey. The word team seemed so much darker in tone now than when Lance usually said it, smiling brightly as he would cheer 'go, team Voltron.' _"Go on and bitch and moan!"_ His sister circled behind him, counter to Lance's clockwise, leaving a lingering touch against his shoulder as she passed. _"You don't deserve to dream!"_ Pidge let go of his shoulder, circling next to Lance, their eye-bags becoming apparent against their already shadowed skin-tone. The lights seemed to flicker above him, until he was left in almost complete darkness, the shadowed forms of his friends and sisters sitting abstractly against the darkness. _"You're going to die alone!"_ Hunk proclaimed against his ear, everyone grouping up in front of him to glare in disgust down at him. Acxa leaned forward and pointed at him as everyone started chanting together. _"Die alone! Die alone! Die alone! DIE ALONE!"_ Keith tilted the bottle past his lips, taking every single pill into his mouth, the taste bitter against his tongue.

The door suddenly burst open, swinging off its hinges and Lance was there, gathering Keith into his arms. The shadows suddenly dissipated in thin air and the lights were on and _they were so bright_. "Spit those out!" Lance squished the boy's cheeks, to which Keith shook his head, no.

"Why are you like this?" Lance sighed exasperatedly. "You can't just decide to off yourself. If you were happy every day of your life you wouldn't be a human being. You'd be a game-show host." Keith let out a hiccup of a laugh, tears still soaking his face and refusing to spit out a single pill.

Lance groaned at Keith's stubbornness. "You have people who care about you. And I personally don't want to see you die like this." Keith's lips wobbled as more tears threatened to pour out of him. "Suicide is a private thing, you know," Keith mumbled around the pills in his mouth. "You're throwing your life away to become a statistic on U. S. fucking A. Today; that's about the least private thing I can think of." Lance held his hand to Keith's mouth, silently begging him to spit out the pills.

Which he did. Right into Lance's hand. Now that Lance thought about it, that was kind of disgusting. Lance dumped the pills into the small trash can beside the toilet, getting up to wash his hands.

Keith wiped his face with his sleeve. "That was actually pretty gross." Lance sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah. I noticed." Keith laughed. "Shut up," Lance mumbled, splashing Keith with some water from the sink. Keith sniffled.

"It hurts," He clutched at his chest, staring down at the tile. The reflection of the shiny white showed the red eyes of his sister. Although, that wasn't right. His sister had dark eyes like his. And this realization seemed to make those menacing eyes disappear.

Lance leaned over him again. "What hurts? You didn't actually swallow any of those pills, did you?" The panic in Lance's voice was evident. Keith shook his head.

"Why can't I just die? I don't deserve to live!" Keith sobbed into his hands again. Lance gathered the sobbing boy in his arms. "I'm pathetic," Keith mumbled into Lance's chest. "I'm a mess. I'm a waste of space. I don't deserve to live. I don't deserve to dream. Everyone's going to leave me someday. Why can't I leave first?" He gripped his raven locks, pulling as the shadows started to reappear.

 _"Whine, whine, whine."_ The voices started again and Keith looked up to see another Lance behind _his_ Lance. _"You're gonna die alone, die alone, die alone, DIE ALONE!"_ The shadow boy lunged for him and pushed him away from the real Lance. But that couldn't be right. The Lance staring down menacingly felt so _real._ The real Lance peered from behind the shadowy one. "Keith!"

Keith heaved for air, the shadow-Lance pressing down on his chest and peering down hatefully. The tan boy leaned in so close his breath could be felt against the raven's cheek. **_This can't be right. Stop._**

He whimpered beneath the tan boy as he whispered in his ear. "You don't deserve me. You can't possibly think you can go on pretending like everything's okay. I hate you. Soon everyone will know what a mess you are and nobody will want to be anywhere near you. You're a waste of space. You're a waste of pills." The tan boy grinned spitefully down at him. And suddenly the dark boy dissipated and was replaced with the concerned expression of his friend. Keith started sobbing uncontrollably.

"Keith, I need you to calm down. Don't listen to the voices in your head. They're not real." Lance sighed, cradling Keith's head as he started singing softly. _"Even when the dark comes crashing through, when you need a friend to carry you, and when you're broken on the ground you will be found. So let the sun come streaming in. 'Cause you'll reach up and you'll rise again. Lift your head and look around. You will be found. You will be found. You will be found. You will be found. You will be found. There's a place where we don't have to feel unknown and every time that you call out you're a little less alone. If you only say the word, from across the silence your voice is heard. Someone will come running to take you home. Even when the dark comes crashing through, when you need a friend to carry you, when you're broken on the ground you will be found. So let the sun come streaming in. 'Cause you'll reach up and you'll rise again. If you only look around you will be found. You will be found. You will be found. Out of the shadows the morning is breaking and all is new, all is new. It's filling up the empty. And suddenly I see that all is new. You are not alone."_ Keith's breathing started to even out and Lance seemed to visibly relax. _"No one deserves to fade away. To fade away. No one should flicker out or have any doubt that it matters that they are here. No one deserves to disappear. To disappear. Disappear."_ Lance brushed the stray strands of hair out of Keith's face.

Lance sighed. "What happened up here? You seemed perfectly fine before and then suddenly you're trying to kill yourself." Keith shrugged. "When I get stressed, I start to hallucinate more that usual," Keith shrugged as if that was a valid excuse for what he'd just done. Lance stared at him, waiting for more of an explanation. Keith stared at the tile at his feet.

Finally, he spoke. "My dad's been taking my medication. That's not really an excuse, but it's what keeps me in control. I'm not like normal people, Lance. No matter how hard I pretend, I'm just not. I do stupid impulsive things for reasons I don't even understand. My brain doesn't work right and I can't help feeling hopeless all the time. I'm never okay and I never will be." Lance nodded, moving the conversation from all those depressing thoughts. "Why has your dad been taking your medication?"

Keith shrugged happlessly. "He's a drug addict and he decided taking my pills might help him get high. And he said he's been spending too much money on pills for me."

"Well, it's your call if you want to call the cops on him. But maybe you should let somebody else help you write your music. Cuz, y'know, we kinda need you alive for our performance on Halloween. Plus, who else would I dress up for Halloween with? I'm thinking you could be a demon and I could be an angel." Lance grinned. Keith giggled at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation. "Who said I wanted to do a fucking couples costume with you, ya' jerk?"

* * *

Keith bounced from his heels to his toes anxiously as half-time neared. He honestly had no idea what was going on with the game, not bothering to cheer with the crowd as one of the linebackers passed the goal with a victory dance.

2:06

Pidge cackled at their friend's nervousness. "Chill, dude. We'll be fine." They adjusted the collar of their weird, silver space suit, some of the green paint they were covered in fading as their hand brushed against their face. Allura smiled at Keith reassuringly. She had a unique costume, which didn't even seem to be a costume at all. He had on a futuristic space-suit that was white with pink accents, she wore purple crystal earrings and her silver hair in a bun, a gold crown with a triangular gem in the front, and she had sparkly, blue marks on her face.

They hadn't seen Coran, but Allura assured them her uncle had a getup that was just as similar and strange as hers. Hunk looked like Korg from Thor of Ragnarok, which is enough explanation on his part. A bunch of the colorguard also wore alien-like outfits and held neon green flags. Lance and Keith on the other hand seemed to be the odd ones out, with Keith dressed up as an angel, with his white jeans, t-shirt, and a leather jacket with silver wings imprinted on the back, as well as a thin silver ring that acted as a headpiece. He even wore a set of white, fingerless gloves (as per Lance's request, after the taller boy had taunted him about the fact that he wore fingerless gloves all the time first). Lance wore a black t-shirt and ripped jeans, a red leather jacket with a pentagram on the back in black, red and black tennis shoes, a set of gold rings, and a dumb devil's horns headband.

1:36

Keith groaned. "I feel a little out of place since Lance and I are, like, the only people in the fucking stadium not wearing weird alien costumes." Pidge sighed. "See I had faith in you when you started using correct grammar with the 'Lance and I' crap, then you said 'like' and I stopped listening to you." Keith rolled his eyes. "I need your support, not your sass, Pidge." They snorted. "You're fine, bro. Nobody gives a shit." Keith gave her an uncertain look, but shrugged nonetheless. Lance nudged Keith. "Besides, we look way cooler than all of these geeks here, right Allura?" Allura signed an affirmative.

0:26

Pidge suddenly leaned over the metal railing separating them from the football field. "Yes, Rolo! Kick their motherfucking asses, you bitch!" They yelled, cupping their hands around their mouth. Rolo stumbled on the field, almost landing a face-full of dirt and barely managed to not get tackled by another player. He landed the little gremlin a short glare before he turned his focus back on the game.

0:06

He ran as fast as he could, much to the chagrin of the opposing players, whom he managed to dodge gracefully. Just as the buzzer rang, he managed to score the Lions another point. Everyone on the Lions' side of the stadium cheered loudly as the colorguard started rolling a large black cloth with glow-in-the-dark stars on it across the field. The marching band started to line up on the side of the field, already ready for action. As the colorguard finished with the cloth, they brought a small, black stage (with the help of some percussionists) to the center of the field.

The group made their way from the bleachers toward the field just as two percussionists rolled Hunk's drum set out onto the field. Everyone got set up and it took less than a minute for the group to get onstage, the marching band to take their places perfectly in sync, and for the colorguard to finally make their way onto the field as well after having helped the percussionists in the 'pit' set up. Everyone was silent for a solid 4 beats before Pidge started playing a pre-recorded soundtrack, consisting only of random voices they'd recorded in the hallway mere minutes before school had ended that day. Lance, being the lovable idiot he was, pulled out a pair of sunglasses from his jacket pocket and put them off, trying and failing to look like some sort of badass.

After a couple beats Allura joined in on violin, soon joined in by the marching percussionists at the very back of the field. Lance started singing the opening lines after that was set off, leaving his guitar hanging over his shoulder in unuse.

 _Been traveling in packs that I can't carry anymore_

 _Been waiting for somebody else to carry me_

 _There's nothing else there for me at my door_

 _All the people I know aren't who they used to be_

 _And if I try to change my life one more day_

 _There would be nobody else to save_

 _And I can't change into a person I don't wanna be, so_

 _Oh, it's Saturday night, yeah_

Hunk started playing on drums and Keith started singing with him in the background with a small smile. The entire marching band had joined in, playing a loud and upbeat, brass sound that boomed through the stadium.

 _I pray for the wicked on the weekend_

 _Mama, can I get another amen?_

 _Oh oh oh oh oh_

 _Oh, it's Saturday night, yeah_

 _Swear to God, I ain't ever gonna repent_

 _Mama, can I get another amen?_

 _Oh oh oh oh oh_

 _Oh, it's Saturday night, yeah_

Keith started playing guitar, shortly and simply, playing simple staccato notes between beats as the marching band quieted, but continued to play along.

 _And every morning when I wake up_

 _I wanna be who I couldn't say I'd ever been_

 _But it's so much more than I ever was_

 _If every night I go to sleep knowing_

 _That I gave everything that I had to give_

 _Then it's all I could've asked for_

 _I've been standing up beside everything I've ever said, but_

The marching band joined in again with more ferocity, everyone playing in sync and perfectly.

 _Oh, it's Saturday night, yeah_

 _I pray for the wicked on the weekend_

 _Mama, can I get another amen?_

 _Oh oh oh oh oh_

 _Oh, it's Saturday night, yeah_

 _Swear to God, I ain't ever gonna repent_

 _Mama, can I get another amen?_

 _Oh oh oh oh oh_

 _Oh, it's Saturday night, yeah_

 _If I had one more day to wish_

 _If I had one more day_

 _To be better than I could have ever been_

 _If I had one more day to wish_

 _If I had one more day_

 _I could be better, but, baby_

 _Oh, it's Saturday night, yeah_

 _I pray for the wicked on the weekend_

 _Mama, can I get another amen?_

 _Oh oh oh oh oh_

 _Oh, it's Saturday night, yeah_

 _Swear to God, I ain't ever gonna repent_

 _Mama, can I get another amen?_

 _Oh oh oh oh oh_

 _Oh, it's Saturday night, yeah_

 _It's Saturday, Saturday, Saturday_

 _Oh oh oh oh oh_

 _Oh, it's Saturday night, yeah_

 _Swear to God, swear to God, swear to God_

 _Oh oh oh oh oh_

 _Oh, it's Saturday night, yeah_

The crowd cheered in approval as the marching band settles off to the sides of the field again and the colorguard took their places on the field. Keith took up center stage, while Lance moved backward to accompany Keith and Hunk started pounding the beat on the bass drum. Keith softly started singing the first lines in a sort of monotone.

 _This is gospel for the fallen ones_

 _Locked away in permanent slumber_

 _Assembling their philosophies_

 _From pieces of broken memories_

Lance started clapping his hands to the beat, encouraging the crowd to clap along and they did. He smiled encouragingly at Keith, singing the background vocals. Lance softly played guitar behind the raven. Pidge played softly on their keyboard, barely heard above the noise.

 _Oh, (This is the beat of my heart, this is the beat of my heart)_

 _Oh, (This is the beat of my heart, this is the beat of my heart)_

Hunk started playing a more adverse beat on the drums, not soft, but also not loud either.

 _The gnashing teeth and criminal tongues conspire against the odds_

 _But they haven't seen the best of us yet_

Hunk started playing loudly on his drum set, impressively maneuvering around the drums skillfully. Lance started playing anew with Keith, accompanying sound and Keith sung louder, gaining a little more confidence. On the last lines of the chorus, Lance sung background vocals.

 _If you love me let me go_

 _If you love me let me go_

 _'Cause these words are knives that often leave scars_

 _The fear of falling apart_

 _And truth be told, I never was yours_

 _The fear, the fear of falling apart_

 _Oh, (This is the beat of my heart, this is the beat of my heart)_

 _Oh, (This is the beat of my heart, this is the beat of my heart)_

Lance and Hunk still played as Keith sung, though softer and slower than they had in the chorus, Lance playing a whole new tune on his guitar.

 _This is gospel for the vagabonds,_

 _Ne'er-do-wells, insufferable bastards_

 _Confessing their apostasies_

 _Led away by imperfect impostors_

Lance sung below Keith continuing to play his guitar as Pidge played alien-sounding noises, from there into the chorus again.

 _Oh, (This is the beat of my heart, this is the beat of my heart)_

 _Oh, (This is the beat of my heart, this is the beat of my heart)_

 _Don't try to sleep through the end of the world_

 _Bury me alive_

 _'Cause I won't give up without a fight_

Lance played a new tune again into the chorus as Keith sung confidently, letting Lance sing in the background.

 _If you love me let me go_

 _If you love me let me go_

 _'Cause these words are knives that often leave scars_

 _The fear of falling apart_

 _And truth be told, I never was yours_

 _The fear, the fear of falling apart_

 _Oh, the fear of falling apart_

 _Oh, the fear, the fear of falling apart_

 _Oh (This is the beat of my heart)_

 _The fear of falling apart_

 _Oh (This is the beat of my heart)_

 _The fear of falling apart_

 _Oh (This is the beat of my heart)_

 _The fear of falling apart_

 _Oh (This is the beat of my heart)_

 _The fear of falling apart_

Pidge played a single note to a beat, which made it sound like a heart beat monitor measuring the heartbeat of a dying person as the song ended.

The crowd cheered yet again as they continued into the third song, which Lance sung. Pidge, Hunk, and Keith accompanied him with their own instruments. A couple marching band members played an opener into the song from the sidelines. Keith played low sounds, his guitar sounding like how he had played in _The Devil Went Down to Georgia_ as he played the Devil's 'fiddle' part. He sung background vocals behind Lance. Pidge played a pre-recording of lightning strikes at random throughout the song, along with other 'spoopy sounds' as they'd called them.

 _(Finders keepers, losers weepers)_

 _Welcome to the end of eras_

 _Ice has melted back to life_

 _Done my time and served my sentence_

 _Dress me up and watch me die_

 _If it feels good, tastes good_

 _It must be mine_

 _Dynasty decapitated_

 _You just might see a ghost tonight_

Allura quickly strummed the same note over and over on her violin until the chorus officially started.

 _And if you don't know now you know_

Lance started singing the notes louder, while the only instrumental change seemed to be that of the marching band playing again from the sidelines.

 _I'm taking back the crown_

 _I'm all dressed up and naked_

 _I see what's mine and take it (Finders keepers, losers weepers)_

 _Oh yeah_

 _The crown_

 _So close I can taste it_

 _I see what's mine and take it (Finders keepers, losers weepers)_

 _Oh yeah_

The marching band started playing softer and fewer in between.

 _Sycophants on velvet sofas_

 _Lavish mansions, vintage wine_

 _I am so much more than royal_

 _Snatch your chain and mace your eyes_

 _If it feels good, tastes good_

 _It must be mine_

 _Heroes always get remembered_

 _But you know legends never die_

Allura played her violin again for a few notes before she was drowned out again by the burst of sound from everyone else.

 _And if you don't know now you know_

 _I'm taking back the crown_

 _I'm all dressed up and naked_

 _I see what's mine and take it (finders keepers, losers weepers)_

 _Oh yeah_

 _The crown_

 _So close I can taste it_

 _I see what's mine and take it (finders keepers, losers weepers)_

 _Oh yeah_

Keith started singing alongside Lance as Allura played her violin in a lilting rhythm. Allura was the only one that played at this point.

 _Mortal kings are ruling castles_

 _Welcome to my world of fun_

 _Liars settle into sockets_

 _Flip the switch and watch them run_

There was a short pause before the chorus started up again with Keith singing background and everyone playing yet again.

 _Oh yeah_

 _(Finders keepers, losers weepers)_

 _I'm taking back, back, taking back, back the crown_

 _I'm all dressed up and naked_

 _I see what's mine and take it (Finders keepers, losers weepers)_

 _Oh yeah_

 _The crown_

 _So close I can taste it_

 _I see what's mine and take it (Finders keepers, losers weepers)_

 _Oh yeah_

 _(Finders keepers, losers weepers)_

 _(Finders keepers, losers weepers)_

The crowd cheered again, more emphatically for their last song as the colorguard lined up in front of the group. Pidge started playing piano, switching it off to Lance as he played short notes on his guitar. Hunk started playing as Keith sung the opening lines. This song was much calmer than the previous song.

 _Through ourselves we send a sign_

 _But the messages are breaking_

 _Pushing further in to sky_

 _Now we're hoping that we'll make it_

 _Now I'm not open to the dark_

 _But this faith is going nowhere_

 _Have I overrun my time or is mine overrun?_

Hunk started playing louder while Lance sung along with Keith during the chorus.

 _Far beyond the universe_

 _We find our minds inside ourselves_

Hunk calmed down on the drums as they transitioned into another voice.

 _I have courage on my side_

 _And strength within my soul_

 _But I've never felt like this_

 _As winter's growing cold_

 _Will you stay with me a while?_

 _I think I'm going deeper_

 _Have I overrun my time or is mine overrun?_

Hunk started playing louder on the drums again as Lance sang alongside Keith during the chorus.

 _Far beyond the universe_

 _We find our minds inside ourselves_

 _Far beyond the universe_

 _We find our minds inside ourselves_

Hunk stopped playing entirely, while Allura's notes changed to something different, but similar, while Pidge played on dutifully.

 _I don't know where we'll go_

 _Now I know that it's over_

 _Light 'em up_

 _Send it all into space_

 _You will go now_

 _I don't know where we'll go_

 _Now I know that it's over_

 _Light 'em up_

 _Send it all into space_

 _You will go now_

They played into the chorus, Lance singing opposing lyrics to each long note that Keith sung, each one hanging in the air.

 _Far beyond our universe_

 _We find our minds inside ourselves_

 _Far (I don't know)_

 _Beyond (Where we'll go)_

 _Our universe (Now I know that it's over)_

 _We find (Light 'em up)_

 _Our minds (Send it all)_

 _Inside (Into space)_

 _Ourselves (We will go now)_

The crowd cheered again as the halftime buzzer went off again and everyone quickly left the field, giving space to the football players. Pidge and Lance both smiled at Keith encouragingly. "See, I told you it'd be fine."

* * *

End A/N:

Shine a Light (Reprise) - Heathers

Disappear - Dear Evan Hansen

You Will Be Found - Dear Evan Hansen

Say Amen (Saturday Night) - Panic!At the Disco

This is Gospel - P!ATD

Emperor's New Clothes - P!ATD

Far Beyond - Huxley Ware Dexter French Darius Behdad

Couldn't resist doing the P!ATD Trilogy. :)


	10. No Wonder No One Heard My Screams

A/N: Holy crap. It took me forever to figure out what songs would be perfect for this and even then I ended up having to change some of the lyrics to fit according to the story and it probably sounds pretty fucking bad when you read the lyrics, but I wanted them to fit and I couldn't find any better songs for this. I'm so sorry for the crappy work. 

* * *

Keith growled at his phone as he read the message on the screen for the gazillionth time. His teacher didn't seem to notice or didn't care that he had his phone out in class. Though the teacher might have been overlooking it since class was almost over.

And there was the bell.

Keith hurriedly packed his stuff up and shuffled past people in the hall, looking for the person in question who had sent him the text message mentioned above. He finally spotted him in the upper west B hall and he groaned in frustration as he saw the sea of students moving at a snail's pace around each other. He shoved his way through the crowd with extreme difficulty as others pushed him around and shoved past him in turn.

"She cheated on you?" Keith asked incredulously, giving Lance a look that said 'why the fuck do you do these things to yourself?' Lance merely shrugged in response like as if it wasn't a big deal that Nyma had done this. There seemed to be a lot of things he was tolerating from the blonde. It made Keith frustrated to know that Lance was just laying down like a little bitch for Nyma while she yanked him around with no semblance of remorse for him.

Keith tried to dodge around people to keep up with Lance, who was walking very quickly, but people kept bumping into him and jostling him around the hall. He hated the west upper B hall. It was always so busy and filled to the brim with students, despite being the widest hall in the building.

"Why haven't you broken up with her yet? Why haven't you talked to her about it? _Or something._ Why are you still with her?" Keith asked, his frustration edging into his words. Lance shrugged again. "It's not exactly the first time. And it's not that big a deal anyways." Keith fell back a step as people weaved between him and Lance.

Keith growled. "I swear to God," He hissed unhelpfully. "That makes it worse. She shouldn't be cheating on you and you shouldn't be tolerating that shit."

"Look, just drop it. Nyma's going to be sticking around while we practice and I don't want to argue about this in front of her," Lance demanded. Keith hummed noncommittally as Lance glared at him. "Look, I've got it under control. I'm not a little kid. I know what I'm doing. So stop." Lance then started walking faster and managed to disappear into the crowd, leaving Keith standing in the middle of the hall, festering in his irritation while the sea of students continued to jostle past him.

* * *

Keith sat at the back of the stage, strumming his guitar and mumbling lyrics under his breath. Allura, Pidge, and Hunk were busy gossiping on the right side of the stage. While Lance was sitting on the edge of the stage with his guitar, happily chatting with Nyma, who was sitting in the front row of the concert hall. **_Of course he still hasn't said anything. Nyma probably thinks that Lance has no idea too._**

Keith strummed roughly and loudly, grabbing the attention of Pidge, who shot him a worried look. He just shrugged in response before standing and joining the three.

"Hey, maybe we should get to practicing now?" He said unsurely and the three glanced at each other and nodded in agreement.

"Well, what exactly do we have planned for today?" Pidge asked. Keith shrugged. And turned to them, and said quietly, "How about NME?" Pidge nodded with a sly smile and everyone got to their spots without drawing the attention of Nyma or Lance. Allura quickly grabbed her violin and stood at attention.

Pidge started playing and creepily singing without grabbing the attention of the couple at the front of the stage.

After doing this once, Keith suddenly broke in with a loud 'ha' as he started playing his guitar, which startled the two. Lance sent Keith a glare at the interruption, then as he realized what song they were playing, he growled lowly.

Keith smirked in response as he started singing with anger in his voice.

 _Remove the gag and step away, he's suffocating_

 _You pull the strings day after day_

 _That's why he needs a break from you_

 _Bid your ass adieu_

 _A break from you_

 _Bitch, your ass is through_

There was more emphasis put on the sound of the violin in a as it slowly went into the chorus and Keith's voice became sweet instead of coarse and angry.

 _Oh, I hope he hears these words_

 _Maybe this time he will learn..._

He started playing his guitar, making his own voice sound even more coarse. Hunk played drums harshly, adding fuel to the fire.

 _You should escape,_

 _Skip town,_

 _No more excuses,_

 _Abandon ship or drown._

 _No more excuses,_

 _Do you even have a plan of attack?_

 _A way to react?_

 _Oh no, you should escape, skip town,_

 _You're better on your own._

As Keith sung the next verse, he sounded more like he was just talking, though this effect made him seem much more frustrated as he tauntingly sung. He tilted his head from side to side as if the extra movement would help get that overwhelming irritation out of his system. And it did help some as he moved his feet occasionally in a sort of stomping motion.

 _OK we get it,_

 _You're both a happy couple,_

 _Why else go through the trouble,_

 _Of posting it ten times a day?_

 _Break from you,_

 _Bid your ass adieu,_

 _We need a break from you,_

 _Bitch, your ass is through._

Allura played alone on the violin as Keith sung his transition part, receiving a glare from Lance. Nyma, however, seemed oblivious to the silent argument going on.

 _Oh, I hope he hears these words_

 _Maybe this time he will learn..._

Everyone joined into the lilting, yet grinding rhythm in the chorus, playing their silent agreement about the matter through song. The song oozed of frustration and anger, the lyrics only adding to the flames, which flared huge and fearsome throughout the concert hall.

 _You should escape,_

 _Skip town,_

 _No more excuses,_

 _Abandon ship or drown._

 _No more excuses,_

 _Do you even have a plan of attack?_

 _A way to react?_

 _Oh no, you should escape, skip town,_

 _You're better on your own._

The song slowed down with only Allura and Pidge playing while Keith sung, slowly adding back into that grating rhythm that the chorus had.

 _If you're both in black and white_

 _And they ask who dares defy,_

 _I'll be raising my hand high._

Everyone quieted as Pidge asked for any objections to a fake marriage and Keith objected, leading everyone into the chorus again.

 _If anyone should object to this marriage,_

 _Please, speak now or forever hold your peace._

 _Yeah, I got somethin' to say..._

Unlike the other choruses, Pidge started singing her lilting tune and the lilting rhythm was just as loud as the grating part, the sound competing for the attention of the audience.

 _You should escape,_

 _Skip town,_

 _No more excuses,_

 _Abandon ship or drown._

 _No more excuses,_

 _Do you even have a plan of attack?_

 _A way to react?_

 _Oh no, you should escape, skip town,_

 _You're better on your own._

The two rhythms combined and were played harmoniously together in an angry, frustrated beat with the lilt getting louder for a moment before the drums effectively brought it back down until the sounds were equal.

 _You're better on your own.  
_

 _You're better on your own._

 _You're better on your own._

 _You're better on your own._

Lance stood from the edge of the stage and walked toward Keith, sending him a 'what the fuck was that' message with his eyes. Keith pretended to not have seen the look in his eyes as the Latino took up center stage, forcing Keith to step aside for him. Keith smirked as Lance glared.

"Let's do ' _Don't You Dare Forget the Sun._ '" Lance made a twirling motion with his finger, indicating that they start from the beginning. Keith scowled as Lance suggested the usage of one of his songs. But everyone else was cooperating.

They started with Hunk on drums and Keith playing a fast guitar solo. As Lance started singing, Allura played on violin and Hnk continued to play in a calmer rhythm. Eventually the guitar parts joined in and Pidge started playing with Allura.

Keith hated how Lance twisted a song about a bad relationship to be about Keith and his shortcomings. He jabbed at every insecurity Keith held inside himself, while making fun of the fact that he thought he was right about their argument. Taunting him by sarcastically building up his ego and telling him to fuck off immediately after. Telling him that he won't be proud of himself for winning the argument.

 _You're a mess tangled with your confidence_

 _You think you haven't sinned_

 _Well you're unstoppable,_

 _Your walls are impassible oh!_

 _I think you're better off looking alone,_

 _The boys that chase your hips can just go find their way home_

 _And at the end of the day you'll think to yourself_

 _My body isn't proud of me and so are the shells_

 _Tell me I can change_

 _Tell me I can change_

They continued to play and Keith festered in his anger as Lance continued to sing, not letting any of his anger or frustration show, which only served to frustrate Keith even more.

As he sung, he seemed to jab at Keith, who recoiled at having his thoughts said out loud for him, then being told not to forget the sun, like it was that easy. Lance pushed the idea that all Keith was doing was ruining things between them. Warning him that nothing good would come from this argument.

 _Well I know you're laying back,_

 _Contemplating your own death_

 _Well just look at what you've done_

 _Don't you dare forget the sun, Love!_

 _Don't forget!_

Lance continued to prod at Keith's insecurities about his mental health. While Keith had argued and tried to change Lance's mind passive aggressively, Lance attacked Keith, insulting him and pushing him to back down.

 _Cold white walls keep you from your pad and pen_

 _You wanna stab again,_

 _I can't believe it's half this hard,_

 _You never knew your mind was dark, no!_

 _I think you're better off looking alone_

 _The boys that chase your hips can just go find their way home_

 _You can dig so deep for scars_

 _You never knew your mind was dark_

 _Come on and breathe with me oh!_

 _Breathe with oh!_

Lance sung the last portion of the chorus, trying to tell Keith to stop trying to fix him. That he didn't know him fully and that he needed to stop treating him like he did. That he needed to stop looking down on him and let him fix his own problems.

 _Well I know you're laying back,_

 _Contemplating your own death_

 _Well just look at what you've done_

 _Don't you dare forget the sun, Love!_

 _You look down on me so casually, in everything I know_

 _You look down on me, but not right on me_

 _Did I wreck this broken home?_

Lance looked back as if asking Keith if he went too far and receiving no acknowledgement from the boy in question. He sighed as he sung in exasperation.

 _Dear Diary,_

 _Life is trying me_

 _Can I get a sign?_

 _Or a two of mind, a piece of mind_

 _Can I get a sign, can I get a sign_

Lance sung with less gusto than he had in the beginning as if he was walking on glass, waiting for Keith's reaction.

 _Well I know you're laying back,_

 _Contemplating your own death_

 _Well just look at what you've done_

 _Don't you dare forget the sun, Love!_

 _You look down on me so casually, in everything I know_

 _You look down on me, but not right on me_

 _Is it plain to see that life trying me?_

Lance continued to sing in exasperation as Keith showed no sign of acknowledging him or being bothered in the slightest.

 _Life is trying me!_

 _Life is trying_

 _Can I think of something, gotta think of something!_

Keith smirked, having already thought of another song as he moved to center stage, motioning for Lance to move back, which he did reluctantly. _"'Sweet But Psycho,'"_

Keith said monotonously and Pidge smirked, thoroughly enjoying the performance. Lance scowled, seeing how Keith had done the same thing as him by choosing to use one of Lance's songs against him.

Keith started singing as Pidge played a slow rhythm with him.

 _Oh, she's sweet but a psycho_

 _A little bit psycho_

 _At night she's screamin'_

 _"I'm out my mind"_

 _Oh, she's hot but a psycho_

 _So left but she's right though_

 _At night she's screamin'_

 _"I'm out my mind"_

Keith sung as he started strumming a soft and sweet melody with Pidge as Hunk played with them and Allura played softly, almost inaudibly.

 _She'll make you curse, but she a blessing_

 _She'll rip your shirt within a second_

 _You'll be coming back, back for seconds_

 _With your plate, you just can't help it_

Keith sung with less anger. His voice was soft and sweet as he sung, as if mocking the way that Lance spoke about Nyma like it was fine for her to treat him the way she did.

 _No, no, you'll play along_

 _Let her lead you on, on, on_

 _You'll be saying, "No, no"_

 _Then saying, "Yes, yes, yes"_

 _'Cause she messin' with your head_

Lance sung along with him, his voice more like honey than Keith's. It was obvious that Keith was not used to singing songs like this that were meant to be sung sweetly and without anger.

 _Oh, she's sweet but a psycho_

 _A little bit psycho_

 _At night she's screamin'_

 _"I'm out my mind"_

 _Oh, she's hot but a psycho_

 _So left but she's right though_

 _At night she's screamin'_

 _"I'm out my mind"_

Lance smirked slightly, amused by how much trouble Keith was having singing the song how it was meant to be sung.

 _Grab a cop gun kinda crazy_

 _She's poison but tasty_

 _Yeah, people say, "Run, don't walk away"_

 _'Cause she's sweet but a psycho_

 _A little bit psycho_

 _At night she's screamin'_

 _"I'm out my mind"_

Lance started singing louder, attempting to take over for Keith, but he refused to back down, only singing with even more edge than he'd originally been singing with.

 _See, someone said, "Don't drink her potions"_

 _She'll kiss your neck with no emotion_

 _When she's mean, you know you love it_

 _'Cause she tastes so sweet, don't sugarcoat it_

 _No, no, you'll play along_

 _Let her lead you on, on, on_

 _You'll be saying, "No, no"_

 _Then saying, "Yes, yes, yes"_

 _'Cause she messin' with your head_

On the last word, Keith sung loudly, while Lance sung for a longer time, singing a high-pitched riff. They sounded off-beat, yet melodious at the same time, despite how polar the two were in their singing.

 _Oh, she's sweet but a psycho_

 _A little bit psycho_

 _At night she's screamin'_

 _"I'm out my mind"_

 _Oh, she's hot but a psycho_

 _So left but she's right though_

 _At night she's screamin'_

 _"I'm out my mind"_

 _Grab a cop gun kinda crazy_

 _She's poison but tasty_

 _Yeah, people say, "Run, don't walk away"_

 _'Cause she's sweet but a psycho_

 _A little bit psycho_

 _At night she's screamin'_

 _"I'm out my mind"_

The two sung together, each taking turns to sing softly or loudly during each half of every line and competing to sing the main vocals for the last two lines, though both sung very differently throughout.

 _You're just like me, you're out your mind_

 _I know it's strange, we're both the crazy kind_

 _You're tellin' me that I'm insane_

 _Boy, don't pretend that you don't love the pain_

Lance finally backed off, realizing that Keith didn't want his help to finish the song, though still smiling in amusement regardless as Keith struggled to finish the song.

 _Oh, she's sweet but a psycho_

 _A little bit psycho_

 _At night she's screamin'_

 _"I'm out my mind"_

 _Oh, she's hot but a psycho_

 _So left but she's right though_

 _At night she's screamin'_

 _"I'm out my mind"_

 _Grab a cop gun kinda crazy_

 _She's poison but tasty_

 _Yeah, people say, "Run, don't walk away"_

 _'Cause she's sweet but a psycho_

 _A little bit psycho_

 _At night she's screamin'_

 _"I'm out my mind"_

As Keith finished the song, Lance made up his mind for the next song to sing and signaled everyone that he had with his finger. _"idontwannabeyouanymore."_ Everyone started getting ready for the song as Nyma smiled up at Lance. Keith scoffed at the soft looks they were giving each other.

It started with just piano and Lance singing softly, before Lance started on guitar and Hunk played drums. He sung softly, with a hint of sadness in his voice. The lyrics didn't seem to say a lot regarding their argument, but the sound of his voice and their instruments said enough.

 _Don't be that way_

 _F_ _all apart twice a day_

 _I just wish you could feel what you say_

 _Show, never tell_

 _But I know you too well_

 _Got a mood that you wish you could sell_

Keith started on guitar, slightly off-put by the sound of the song and its lyrics. It sounded accusing and cold, but not just toward Keith this time, and not Nyma, but the whole world. Blaming the world for having expectations for all of them. For people breaking each other apart. For making people hurt.

 _If teardrops could be bottled_

 _There'd be swimming pools filled by models_

 _Told a tight dress is what makes you a whore_

 _If "I love you" was a promise_

 _Would you break it, if you're honest_

 _Tell the mirror what you know she's heard before_

 _I don't wanna be you anymore_

Nyma clasped her hands as if telling him to stop singing. Her hands shook, though she gave no other warning that she was uncomfortable with the song as they continued with the song.

 _Hands, hands getting cold_

 _Losing feeling's getting old_

 _Was I made from a broken mold?_

 _Hurt, I can't shake_

 _We've made every mistake_

 _Only you know the way that I break_

Lance sung slowly, accusingly, but at the same time with just as much forgiveness. Singing about the hurt that people cause them. About the shit that gets thrown at them. How it's hard to stay, but that he needs to. How it hurts him to be what he isn't, but it's even worse to be a plastic girl.

 _If teardrops could be bottled_

 _There'd be swimming pools filled by models_

 _Told a tight dress is what makes you a whore_

 _If "I love you" was a promise_

 _Would you break it, if you're honest_

 _Tell the mirror what you know she's heard before_

 _I don't wanna be you_

 _I don't wanna be you_

 _I don't wanna be you, anymore_

Lance rolled his shoulders in exhaustion. "We done here?" Everyone else nodded silently and Lance nodded back as he hopped off the stage. "Well, I'm off. See you guys later."

* * *

End A/N:

NME - Set It Off

Don't You Dare Forget the Sun - Get Scared

Pretty But Psycho - Ava Max

idontwannabeyouanymore - Billie Eilish


	11. Maybe It's in the Colors

Lance tapped his fingers against the edge of the open car window to the rhythm of the bass as he pulled the car into park. Today he wore a thick, woolen, blue poncho sweater with white jeans and his favorite, matching blue Guess shoes. Keith opened the truck door before the vehicle was fully stopped as he ran with the truck toward one of the freshly white painted storage units. He was quickly able to unlock the door and swing it up, revealing all of the dusty, old instruments within.

For a kid who lived in an rv park, he sure could afford a lot of instruments. Lance laughed as Keith picked up an old, acoustic guitar with a beaming smile. He couldn't remember ever seeing the emo-teen holding an acoustic guitar and it seemed ridiculous to see him with one, especially when the boy was wearing his leather biker jacket, red, heart-shaped sunglasses, fingerless gloves, and ripped black jeans, looking like some badass biker punk that just walked out of a gay bar.

He strummed an upbeat tune on the acoustic guitar as he walked back toward the truck. "Where the hell did you get all this?" Lance asked with a laugh as Keith shifted the bridge of the glasses down near the tip of his nose to show off his gorgeous, violet eyes.

"My dad, my biological one that is, was a band nerd and he left all of his instruments to Acxa and I when he died. The rest of it is shit I scavenged from garage sales and Goodwill with the little money he and mom left us," He gave Lance a wicked smile as he started to sing beautifully, stomping and bouncing across the cement as he did.

 _Mind, mind_

His smile brightened as he leaned up against the driver-side door, his soft, melodious voice carrying through the open space between them.

 _Sittin' all alone  
_ _Mouth full of gum_  
 _In the driveway_  
 _My friends aren't far_  
 _In the back of my car_  
 _Lay their bodies_

Lance laughed in amusement as Keith slowed his playing to strumming twice per 'mind' that was sung and jokingly blew him a kiss.

He loved when Keith was this up, which hardly ever happened. So when it did, Lance always tried to enjoy it as much as he could. His friend meant a lot to him.

 _Where's my mind_  
 _Where's my mind_

Keith started strumming frequently and uppity as he had in the beginning and Lance could almost see the bubbles of happiness that floated up with every step Keith took. Or maybe those were real. He wondered if Keith could see them too.

 _They'll be here pretty soon_  
 _Lookin' through my room for the money_  
 _I'm bitin' my nails_  
 _I'm too young to go to jail_  
 _It's kinda funny_

Keith laughed as he continued to strum and the music on the radio seemed to shift by the sheer force of Keith's will to match and accompany his playing.

 _Where's my mind_  
 _Where's my mind_  
 _Where's my mind_  
 _Where's my mind_

Keith stopped strumming, to place a suggestive hand on Lance's shoulder before spinning away to dance on his own as he sung, and, **_oh_** **,** it was raining now too.

But the sky was blue and everything was perfect despite that lingering, dark ambiance that always seemed to hang like a veil behind Keith. And the music seemed to reflect it too.

 _Maybe it's in the gutter where I left my lover_  
 _What an expensive fate_  
 _My V is for Vendetta_  
 _Thought that I'd feel better_  
 _But now I got a bellyache_

The only words he could hear were Keith's, but the radio was playing along to Keith's whim as if it knew what he was thinking. Even as sirens started to ring in the distance, happiness bubbled out of every movement Keith made. The world could stop just for him.

 _Everything I do the way I wear my noose_  
 _Like a necklace_  
 _I wanna make 'em scared like I could be anywhere_  
 _Like I'm reckless_

Keith winked and Lance felt laughter bubbling out of his throat, but he couldn't hear it. The only sound that came out was that of the music. The music that would determine everything he ever did for the rest of his life if only he could stay by that beautiful boy's side and protect him.

 _I lost my mind_  
 _I don't mind_  
 _Where's my mind_  
 _Where's my mind_

Keith tramped around in the puddles of rain like a child as he sung the lyrics so loudly, he was surprised nobody yelled for them to stop. He smiled lovingly at the childish, yet broken raven-haired boy.

Keith seemed to realize how soaked he was and reached into the car window to grab a bright, yellow raincoat (when had that gotten there?) that was draped over the passenger seat.

 _Maybe it's in the gutter where I left my lover_  
 _What an expensive fate_  
 _My V is for Vendetta_  
 _Thought that I'd feel better_  
 _But now I got a bellyache_

And all he could see was bright yellow like the sun (not the kind that stung your eyes in the morning as you drove to school, but like that happy watercolor paint that you'd stick your fingers in as a kid and drag the color over the walls until the world wasn't so grey) and ocean blue (like the clear shallows he played in as a child in Varadero, not the dark blue waters where he'd go swimming at night with some lover that meant nothing to him now, but heartbreak) and piercing violet (the kind that reflected only in the clearest of starry nights and only in the most beautiful and colorful of galaxies that he'd obsessed over as a child) and beautifully intense red (not like blood, or even the fire that reflected in Keith's eyes, but like autumn leaves and like strawberries picked fresh and sweet), swirling through the air like water paint on a canvas. It was beautiful, it was everything, and Lance wanted so bad for the colors to bleed into him, to be his, to be him. _(Maybe it's in the colors where I'll meet my lover)_

 _Maybe it's in the gutter where I left my lover_  
 _What an expensive fate_  
 _My V is for Vendetta_  
 _Thought that I'd feel better_  
 _But now I got a bellyache_

Lance could see the way the rain (no, those were tears, weren't they?) clung to Keith's eyelashes as he stared up at the cloudless, blue sky (but why was it raining?) with nothing less than the most hopeful expression he'd ever seen on the sullen boy.

Then there was a ringing in his ears and the color started to seep away and flood into stark black as Lance opened his eyes to see bright white numbers on a phone screen that had a picture of him and Nyma on it saying 6:25 and he realized it had been a dream.

Lance sighed as he cradled his face in his hands.

"Shit."

End A/N:

Bellyache - Billie Eilish


End file.
